BANCROFT 
LIBRARY 

<• 

THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


PRICE,  10  CEtfTS. 


The  New  Departure 


BY 


WILLIAM     H,     MULLER. 


NEW  YORK  : 

Published  by  THE  CREDIT  FONCIER   Co., 
Room  708,  32  Nassau  Sr. 


THE  NEW  DEPARTURE. 


A  DESCRIPTION 


OF 


PACIFIC    COLONY 


BY 


WM.     H,     MULLER,     M.    D, 

l_— - 


NEW  YORK  : 

THE  CREDIT  FONCIER   COMPANY, 
32   NASSAU   STREET. 


F 


e> 


THE  NEW  DEPARTURE. 


A  CO-OPERATIVE  CITY  TO  BE  ESTABLISHED  ON  STRICT  BUSINESS 
METHODS,  WHERE  EVERY  CITIZEN  WILL  BF  NOT  ONLY  A 
WORKER  IN  SOME  ONE  OR  MORE  FREELY  CHOSEN  DEPART- 
MENTS OF  INDUSTRY,  BUT  ALSO  A  SHAREHOLDER  IN  EVERY 
INDUSTRIAL  DEPARTMENT. -FARMING,  MANUFACTURES,  COM- 
MERCE, MINING,  ETC.,  ETC.,  CARRIED  ON  BY  ALL  THE 
CITIZENS  IN  THEIR  COLLECTIVE  CAPACITY.-COMPETITION 
AND  INDUSTRIAL  ANTAGONISM  RENDERED  IMPOSSIBLE. 


The  above  proposed  city  has  been  projected,  planned  and 
mapped  out  in  detail,  by  Albert  K.  Owen,  of  Chester,  Delaware 
Co.,  Penn.,  and  chief  engineer  of  the  Texas,  Topolobampo  and 
Pacific  Kailroad,  whose  terminus  is  at  Topolobampo  harbor,  the  site 
of  the  proposed  city,  on  the  Gulf  of  California,  State  of  Siualoa, 
Mexico.  This  road  when  finished,  will  bring  the  locality  within 
five  days'  travel  of  New  York  City,  and  one  and  a  quarter  days  of 
Galveston,  Texas. 

Within  the  last  few  months  an  undertaking  has  been  begun  by 
some  friends  of  co-operation  which  has  great  promise.  The  ob- 
ject of  this  article  is  to  call  attention  to  this  enterprise. 

Briefly  stated,  it  is  proposed  to  purchase  a  tract  of  land  for  a 
colony  site,  containing  some  21)  square  miles,  or  about  18,500  acres, 
situated  upon  a  fine  harbor  on  the  Gulf  of  California,  and  in  the 
State  of  Sinaloa,  one  of  the  States  of  the  republic  of  Mexico;  and 
also,  33,500  acres  of  agricultural  lands  lying  adjacent  to  the  said 
site  for  colony.  The  rare  combination  of  climate,  soil,  variety  and 
abundance  of  semi-tropical  productions,  mining  wealth,  mountain 
scenery  and  commercial  position  cannot  be  excelled.  These  are  all 
described  in  the  publications  of  the  projector,  to  be  present! v  men- 
tioned. The  harbor  bears  the  name  of  Topolobampo.  The  Fuerte 
River  empties  into  the  gulf  of  California,  about  31  miles  north. 

The  proposed  purchase  is  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a  co- 
ojwrative  colony,  to  be  called  the  "Pacific  colony,"  or  by  the  name, 
"Credit  Fonder"— that  is,  a  corporate  body  or  chartered  corpor- 
ation, whose  credit  is  based  upon  real  estate,  upon  land,  as  dis- 
tinguished from  "Credit  Mobilicr."  which  is    credit  based  upon 
P»  rsonal  property  or  movables.       The  feature  that  will  distinguish  | 
this  enterprise  from  all  previous  efforts  at  colonization  is,  that  If 
•  very  method  of  operation,  every  appliance  and  instrumentality  / 
that  is  essential  to  the  health  and  comfort,  to  the  bodily  and  mental  J 


development  of  several  thousand  persons,  will  be  provided, 
owned  and  kept  in  operation  by  themselves  in  their  corporate 
capacity.  All  the  stockholders  or  members  of  the  colony  will 
be  joint  partners  in  a  great  business  enterprise,  which  will  embrace 
the  various  departments  of  all  human  industry,  viz.,  agriculture, 
manufactures,  commerce,  and,  no  doubt,  mining  also,  as  the  region 
abounds  in  unworked  mines  of  the  precious  metals.  Everyone 
will  have  an  interest  in  everything  that  goes  on,  for  the  colony  will 
be  established  on  the  principle  of  co-operative  association,  and 
its  motto  and  guiding  rule  will  be:  "Collective  ownership  and 
management  of  public  utilities  and  conveniences ;  the  community 
responsible  for  the  health,  usefulness,  individuality,  and  security 
of  each." 

It  is  the  establishment  of  a  rural  city,  the  combining  of  the 
country  with  the  town,  a  city  permeated  and  pervaded  throughout 
by  the  country,  through  its  containing  many  parks;  its  streets  very 
wide  and  shaded  by  avenues  of  trees  and  broad  strips  of  grass  and 
flowers  along  the  sidewalks,  the  whole  surrounded  by  the  city's 
own  extensive  and  diversified  farm  lands,  the  common  property  of 
all  the  citizens,  and  the  whole  colony,  every  member  of  it  will  be 
supplied  in  the  most  complete  and  thorough  manuer  with  every- 
thing needed  for  human  comfort,  through  arrangements  which 
have  all  been  most  carefully  thought  out,  both  in  general  and  in 
detail,  beforehand — a  thing  which  has  never  yet  been  done  in  the 
annals  of  city  founding  in  such  an  all-embracing  manner.  So 
that  all  that  is  now  required  is  for  those  who  have  the  matter  in 
charge,  to  dispose  of  the  number  of  shares  of  stock  at  ten  dollars 
per  share,  that  will  furnish  the  funds  required  to  purchase  the 
property,  give  the  shareholders  possession  and  allow  them  to  go 
to  work  at  once. 

We  all  know  how  a  settlement,  a  town,  is  started  in  the  ordi- 
nary way.  We  know  that  they  grow  up  piecemeal,  and  more  or 
less  at  haphazard,  and  without,  in  most  cases,  any  general  or  com- 
prehensive plan.  Or  if  there  is  some  general  plan  in  laying  out 
streets  and  lots,  every  detail  as  to  buildings  and  a  hundred  other 
things  that  concern  the  common  welfare  and  comfort  are  left  to 
the  caprice  and  whims  of  the  lot-holders.  Whatever  may  be  the 
attraction  that  draws  persons  to  a  new  locality,  and  to  build  a  town, 
the  first  thing  done  by  the  owner  or  owners  of  the  land  is  to  lay  it 
out  in  lots  of  varying  sizes,  then  to  dispose  of  them  to  purchasers, 
of  whom  some  purchase  to  build  upon,  others  to  hold  for  specu- 
lation ;  and  should  a  rush  be  made,  from  some  real  or  fancied  pros- 
pect of  acquiring  wealth  by  a  residence  there,  the  lots  are  cut  up 
and  sold  at  exorbitant  prices.  They  may  pass  into  the  hands  of  a 
wealthy  individual  or  corporation  and  be  sold  again  to  individuals. 
Of  these,  each  buys  his  large  or  small  lot,  and  puts  up  a  building 
to  suit  his  own  purpose,  regardless  of  his  neighbors,  and  the  result 
is  that  a  town  springs  up  that  is  simply  the  embodiment  of  an  in- 
tense individualism.  It  is  a  conglomeration  of  dwellings,  stores, 
workshops,  factories,  drinking  and  gambling  saloons  and  the  like, 
of  every  size,  color,  shape,  material  and  location,  a  heterogeneous 
assemblage  of  structures  of  all  kinds,  and  for  all  purposes,  good, 
bad  and  indifferent,  all  crowded  together  pell-mell,  with  but  rare 


attempt  at  uniformity  ;  since  everyone  is  free  to  suit  himself  as  to 
his  house  and  surroundings,  provided  he  does  not  go  so  far  in  this 
direction  as  to  establish  an  indictable  nuisance.  There  is  a  natural 
tendency  also  for  the  various  social  strata  to  gravitate  to  distinct 
localities.  The  wealthy  have  their  fashionable  quarter,  and  put 
up  their  costly  mansions;  the  poor  congregate  in  theirs,  and  build 
or  rent  squalid  abodes;  while  the  middle  class  may  fill  up  the  inter- 
vening space.  But  in  each  locality  the  same  individualism  and 
want  of  unity  in  plan  and  purpose  prevails,  except  where  .large 
firms  or  corporations  put  up  large  blocks  of  buildings  for  their 
own  use  or  emolument,  which  may  present  a  uniform  style  of 
architecture. 

Thus  in  the  building  of  an  ordinary  town  there  is  a  total  lack 
of  general  plan,  or  predetermined  harmony  of  parts;  and  the 
larger  the  town  grows,  or  the  "  more  prosperous  "  it  is,  as  the  say- 
ing is,  the  greater  and  more  widely  spread  are  the  contrasts,  both 
of  the  social  conditions  and  of  the  dwellings  that  are  the  natural 
outbirths  of  such  contrasted  states — great  wealth  in  palatial  man- 
sions on  the  one  hand,  and  great  and  hopeless  poverty  in  shaky 
tenement  houses,  shanties,  and  dark,  damp  cellars  on  the  other. 

From  this  glance  at  the  jumble  of  buildings  of  an  endless  vari- 
ety of  shape,  size  and  material,  crowded  together  to  form  the 
ordinary  town,  let  us  look  at  the  mode  of  supplying  the  common 
wants  of  the  citizens.  What  must  everyone  have  ?  What  are  the 
absolute  and  indispensable  needs  of  each  and  all  of  the  inhabitants, 
whether  rich  or  poor  ? 

The  first  want  of  all  is  a  city  government.  This  every  one  re- 
quires for  the  regulation  of  matters  of  common  concern,  as  for 
assessment  and  collection  of  taxes,  for  police,  for  some  public 
works,  as  water-works  and  others,  for  inspection  of  buildings,  for 
a  fire  department,  for  the  paving,  cleaning  and  sewerage  of  streets, 
etc.  etc. 

But,  besides  these,  every  one  wants  the  streets  well  lighted, 
wants  facilities  for  easy,  cheap  and  rapid  transit  between  distant 
points;  all  are  more  or  less  interested  in  good  wharves  and  piers,  if 
upon  navigable  water.  All  want  provision  houses  or  markets  for 
perishable  articles  which  require  daily  renewal,  also  provision  de- 
pots or  stores  for  groceries  or  food  material  that  will  keep  longer  ; 
depots  or  stores  for  clothing  of  all  kinds,  for  house-furnishing  and 
building  materials,  and  for  the  countless  other  articles  of  purchase 
required  by  a  civilized  community. 

They  want,  further,  various  kinds  of  insurances,  as  life  insur- 
ance, insurance  against  fire,  storms,  lightning,  accidents,  sickness, 
old  age,  etc.  They  want  public  buildings,  with  their  offices  for 
the  public  officials;  public  schools  and  salaried  teachers;  banks 
where  money  may  be  borrowed  and  also  deposited  for  safe  keeping; 
also  depots  for  the  sale  and  exchange  of  the  products  of  the  in- 
dustry of  the  citizens;  halls  for  Sunday  instructions  and  kindred 
purposes. 

Hardly  less  indispensable  than  the  above  are  places  of  public 
amusement,  such  as  theatres,  opera-houses,  concert-halls,  halls  for 
public  meetings,  lectures  and  exhibitions,  art  galleries,  libraries, 
museums,  etc. 


6 

Then,  provision  should  be  made  for  the  citizens  to  come  into 
full  and  free  contact  with  and  enjoyment  of  Nature,  by  public 
parks  and  gardens,  with  streams,  lakes,  fountains,  and  boating 
facilities;  also  gymnasiums  and  ample  grounds  for  athletic  and 
other  games  for  both  sexes. 

Now  all  of  these  things  thus  enumerated  are  wanted  by  every 
citizen,  or  rather  the  use  and  enjoyment  of  them.  It  may  be 
said  that  they  are  all  equally  necessary,  equally  indispensable  means 
for  proper  living.  Every  one  must  have  food  and  clothing,  shelter 
and  fuel,  pure  water,  pure  air,  abundant  light,  both  day  and  night, 
in  house  and  street,  easy,  rapid  and  cheap  conveyance  for^himself 
and  his  wares,  relaxation  and  amusement,  unrestrained  social  inter- 
course (at  all  times  governed,  of  course,  by  all  the  proprieties  of 
refined  society),  and  every  facility  for  bodily  exercise  and  mental 
improvement,  with  many  other  needs  which  cannot  now  be  enu- 
merated. 

Now,  how  are  these  numerous  and  urgent  human  wants  sup- 
plied in  the  ordinary  town  or  city  ? 

Some,  but  very  few,  are  supplied  by  the  city  in  its  corporate 
capacity,  which  itself  involves  the  relief  of  the  first  need — that  of 
city  government.  Then,  supplying  this  first  want  by  its  own  ex- 
istence, the  city  government  proceeds  to  supply  some  other  public 
wants,  as  the  supply  of  water,  though  this  is  sometimes  done  by 
private  companies,  the  opening,  paving,  cleaning  and  sewerage  of 
streets,  the  formation  of  a  police  force,  of  the  lire  department,  the 
erection  of  public  buildings,  as  market-house,  school-house,  etc.,  etc. 

But  the  great  majority  of  the  common  wants  of  the  citizens  is 
left  to  the  enterprise  of  individuals  and  chartered  companies. 
These  are  gas  companies,  street  car  companies,  electric  light  and 
motor  companies,  telegraph  and  telephone  companies,  fuel  supply 
companies,  ice  companies,  bridge  companies,  etc.,  etc.,  and  what 
such  companies  and  firms  do  not  furnish  of  what  is  needed  by  the 
community,  is  supplied  by  individuals.  Hence  come  the  countless 
stores  of  every  kind  for  furnishing  whatever  may  be  wanted  in 
every  department  of  human  life.  Every  human  want  is  supplied 
in  proportion  to  the  demand  for  that  which  satisfies  it  (but  only  to 
those  who  can  pay  for  such  satisfaction)  by  parties  who  thus  make 
a  living  out  of  the  wants  of  their  neighbors,  it  being  at  the  same 
time  their  interest  to  create  or  increase  those  wants,  so  that  they 
may  fatten  by  supplying  them  at  the  highest  market  price  attain- 
able. 

But  \vhat  is  the  result  of  this  mode  of  supphTing  human  wants 
by  separate  and  independent  individuals  and  companies  ? 

The  result  is  a  universal  scramble  and  intense  competition  for 
the  patronage  of  the  public.  Every  one  is  free  to  outbid,  to  under- 
sell and  to  crowd  out  his  rival  in  the  same  supply  line  if  he  can. 
The  greater  the  demand  for  any  one  article,  the  higher,  for  awhile, 
is  the  price  put  upon  it  by  the  sellers;  but  this  great  demand  and 
high  price  obtainable  by  those  who  are  first  in  the  market,  creates 
a  rush  of  competing  makers  and  sellers  of  such  article,  and,  of 
course,  the  abundant  supply  lowers  the  price,  the  market  is  over- 
stocked, and  the  demand  falls  off.  In  such  case  it  is  only  the 
richest  as  well  as  the  most  enterprising,  whose  business  talent  is 


stimulated  by  a  dominant  love  of  money-making,  that  are  able  to 
weather  the  storm,  because  they  can  sell  for  the  smallest  margin  of 
profit,  or  even  at  a  loss  for  awhile,  falling  back  upon  a  reserved 
capital,  until  there  arises  a  fresh  demand  for  the  article.  These 
fortunate  ones  are,  of  course,  only  the  few;  the  rest  of  their  com- 
peting rivals  in  their  particular  branch  of  trade  must  either  go 
elsewhere,  to  some  other  locality  where  their  goods  are  yet  in  de- 
mand, or  turn  to  some  other  and  better-paying  business.  But  this, 
also,  is  better  paying  only  for  awhile,  for  here,  also,  a  rush  takes 
place  to  supply  the  demand  and  obtain  the  better  pay,  and  then 
prices  fall  here  also,  and  the  same  thing  is  repeated  as  occurred  in 
the  business  which  these  unfortunates  had  left,  because  it  failed  to 
be  to  them  any  longer  a  remunerative  one. 

And  this  process  is  repeated  in  all  branches  of  industry,  and  is 
going  on  continually  and  everywhere.  There  is  a  constant  and 
unavoidable  fluctuation  in  the  supply  of  commodities,  as  well  as 
in  their  values— there  is  ever  too  much  or  too  little.  In  the 
former  case,  there  is  a  fall  of  values,  and  if  the  stock  on  hand  is 
perishable,  it  may  be  a  total  loss.  In  the  latter  case  there  is  a  rush 
to  supply  the  demand  for  the  needed  article;  then  over-supply,  and 
again  a  fall  in  price.  In  some  cases  the  small  makers  and  dealers 
are  bought  out  by  the  larger  and  wealthier  ones,  who  are  able  to 
wait  for  another  rising  market;  while  those  who  are  not  so  bought 
out,  and  who  try  to  compete  with  their  rich  rivals,  and  have  bad 
outstanding  debts  besides,  go  to  swell  the  list  of  weekly  failures, 
of  which  there  are  always  between  two  and  three  hundred  in  the 
United  States,  and  so  also  form  a  part  of  the  95  per  cent,  of  per- 
sons entering  business,  who  thus  fail  of  success. 

When  the  community  thus  allows  its  needs  to  be  supplied  by  a 
multitude  of  separate  individuals  and  independent  companies, 
there  is  inaugurated  a  race  for  existence  between  the  strong  and 
the  weak— between  the  strong  in  health  and  wealth,  and  mental 
power,  and  the  weak  in  all  these  respects.  Between  all  persons 
in  the  same  line  of  business  there  necessarily  and  inevitably  arises 
an  intense  rivalry,  and  desire  of  each  to  do  better  than  his  compet- 
itors in  attracting  custom:  for  if  this  cannot  be  retained,  either 
from  inferiority  of  goods,  or  too  high  a  price  set  upon  them  (though 
such  price  may  give  only  a  fair  return  for  what  it  has  cost  the 
dealer  to  produce  them,  in  view  of  his  peculiar  means  and  mental 
capacity),  then  he  loses  ground,  is  pushed  to  the  wall,  and  goes  to 
swell  the  list  of  failures. 

The  most  strenuous  efforts,  therefore,  are  made  by  the  army  of 
competing  individuals  and  companies  in  every  branch  of  business, 
to  outdo  each  other  in  every  conceivable  way  in  attracting  public 
attention;  as  by  sensational  and  enormous  advertisements  in  the 
newspapers;  by  costly  and  highly -decorated  circulars  and  pictured 
cards;  by  flaming  posters  in  public  resorts;  by  placards  on  street 
vehicles,  and  carried  by  men  hired  to  walk  the  public  thorough- 
fares; and  by  defacement  of  fences  and  rocks  along  highroads  and 
railroads,  not  sparing  the  most  picturesque  landscape,  wherev< -r  a 
surface  is  offered  by  the  villainous  paint-brush.  In  this  unnatural 
warfare  between  man  and  man,  such  frantic  endeavors  to  keep  his 
head  above  water,  is  forced  upon  every  person  engaged  in  business, 


by  the  dire  necessities  of  the  case,  that  existence  is  a  constant 
struggle  for  bread.  The  "  battle  of  life,"  as  it  is  called,  is  a  des- 
perate one,  and  the  victory  is  only  to  the  strong  in  purse  and 
pluck. 

But  why  should  life  be  this  battle— a  battle  with  one's  fellow- 
citizens  for  the  means  of  living  ?  The  true  and  only  righteous 
battle  should  be  carried  on  by  every  one  against  the  tendencies  to 
evil  in  his  own  nature,  and  against  the  evil  and  wrong  in  the  world 
around  him;  a  battle  also,  with  the  wild  and  rugged  materials  of 
uncultivated  Nature,  and  her  untamed  and  powerful  forces — a 
battle  to  conquer  these  and  make  them  the  servants  and  helpers  of 
man;  a  battle  to  conquer  the  vigin  soil  and  forest — the  mineral, 
plant,  and  animal  kingdoms,  and  the  vast  realms  of  Nature's  yet 
hidden  and  undeveloped  energies. 

But  this  contention  of  men  with  each  other  in  commercial  and 
industrial  rivalry;  this  ceaseless  struggle  of  the  weak  against  the 
strong  ;  this  endless  competition  in  the  transfer  of  wealth  from  the 
community  to  one's  own  pocket,  giving  as  little  and  taking  as  much 
as  is  possible;  with  all  the  cunning,  and  trickery  and  downright 
cheating  so  often  involved  in  this  strange  life-battle—all  this  ap- 
pears in  the  highest  degree  unnatural  and  unworthy  of  rational 
beings— appears,  in  fact,  most  intensely  and  overwhelmingly  absurd 
when  viewed  from  the  higher  standpoint  of  the  opposite  method 
of  conducting  human  industry. 

This  method  is  one  that  unites  men  instead  of  antagonizing 
them;  that  creates  harmony  in  place  of  a  thousand  discords;  that 
enriches  instead  of  impoverishing;  that  gives  a  certainty  of  constant 
employment,  and  an  assured  and  fair  remuneration,  instead  of  keep- 
ing the  workman  in  constant  doubt  and  harassing  anxiety  as  to  the 
future ;  that  gives  an  assured  protection  and  help  to  the  young,  the 
aged,  the  sick  and  the  feeble;  that  delivers  woman  from  a  house- 
hold drudgery  that  is  a  perpetual  and  wearing  treadmill  of  an  un- 
varying routine  of  work,  day  in  and  day  out,  the  year  round,  and 
will  give  to  her  and  to  all,  lei>ure,  education  and  refinement.  In  a 
word,  this  new  method  is  simply  common  sense  applied  to  the 
entire  circle  of  human  industries  and  not  only  to  a  few  departments; 
it  is  the  union  of  all  human  interests  in  co-operative  life.  "  Com- 
petition is  the  life  of  business  "  is  the  constant  cry.  This  is  trumpeted 
forth  from,  the  press,  from  the  halls  of  legislation,  from  books  on 
public  economy— as  if  to  struggle  and  contend  with  others  were 
"the  whole  duty  of  man,"  the  sole  end  and  aim  of  human  ex- 
istence—and the  cry  is  taken  up  and  echoed  from  city  to  city,  from 
State  to  State,  from  nation  to  nation,  and  the  entire  civilized  (semi- 
civilized)  world  is  a  vast  battle-ground  of  contending,  struggling, 
competing  mortals,  contending  as  individuals,  as  corporations,  as 
whole  nations,  competing  with  each  other  for  the  world's  markets. 
Yes,  truly  competition  verily  makes  things  lively,  and  so  also  does 
the  fear  of  drowning  keep  the  SAvimmer  lively — very  lively  as  long 
as  his  strength  holds  out.  In  like  manner  does  the  business  man 
struggle  to  keep  his  head  above  water,  and  so  he  keeps  close  watch 
and  ward  over  every  penny  of  income  and  outgo  ;  merging  his 
whole  life,  and  thought,  and  strength  in  the  miserable  narrow 
channel  of  ceaseless  effort  not  to  lose  custom  through  any  stronger 
attraction  which  his  rivals  may  offer  to  the  public. 


Certainly  the  fact  is  not  to  be  ignored,  that  the  world  is  kept 
moving  by  other  motives  than  that  of  money-getting — by  other 
motives  than  the  necessity  of  contending  with  others  for  the  means 
of  life.  The  love  of  activity  is  inborn  with  everyone.  Every 
person  has  powers  of  mind  and  body  which  crave  to  be  doing — 
that  love  excitement  and  love  the  pursuit  of  many  other  objects 
than  wealth  only.  But  no  one  can  gratify  his  tastes  without  means. 
He  must  first  take  his  place  in  the  ranks  of  the  money -seekers,  and 
struggle  and  compete  with  the  rest,  until  he  either  wins  or  loses. 
In  the  latter  case  his  favorite  projects  are  never  realized,  life  loses 
its  early,  roseate  hue,  and  he  plods  along  as  best  he  can  to  get  a 
bare  subsistence,  without  aspiration  or  hope  of  anything  better 
this  side  of  the  grave,  often  without  work  of  any  kind,  as  in  times 
like  the  present  when  thousands  of  men,  able  and  eager  to  work, 
are  thrown  for  long  periods  entirely  out  of  employment  through 
the  closing  of  mills,  factories,  mines,  etc.  The  chief  if  not  the 
only  reason  of  all  this  lies  in  the  fact  that  our  so-much  lauded  com- 
petition has  caused  overproduction  and  dead  markets :  overproduction 
for  all  who  can  purchase,  but  who  have  bought  all  they  want,  and 
underconsumption  from  the  multitudes  whom  this  same  competition 
(a  two-edged  sword,  cutting  both  ways)  has  disabled  from  purchas- 
ing, by  reason  of  low  wages  to  workmen,  because  of  small  profits 
received  by  employers  (from  overstocked  markets),  and  also  by 
reason  of  the  failures  it  has  caused  and  so  thrown  them  into  the 
ranks  of  the  moneyless.  Thus  the  necessity  of  earning  a  subsist- 
ence, as  well  as  the  necessity  of  having  a  competence  at  least,  if 
one  wishes  to  carry  out  some  favorite  project  which  does  not  pro- 
mise an  immediate  money  return,  compels  everyone  to  engage  in 
some  business  (however  distasteful  and  opposed  to  his  natural  bent 
of  mind)  which  does  promise  a  money  return.  But  this  is  the 
same  thing  as  matters  are  now  conducted,  as  entering  into  competi- 
tion with  a  thousand  others  and  taking  his  chance  of  success,  which, 
if  attained  and  in  proportion  to  his  success,  means  the  failure  of 
one  or  of  many  of  his  rivals.  He  must  take  his  chance  with  others, 
and  must  compete  against  them,  for  in  the  present  industrial  chaos 
there  is  no  other  alternative — no  other  door  to  possible  wealth  open. 
Ye's,  "  Competition  is  the  life  of  business,"  but  it  tends  to  crush 
the  business  operator  and  allow  only  the  few,  the  strong,  to  sur- 
vive— that  is  financially.  Competition  certainly  vastly  cheapens 
all  products  for  the  consumer,  and  all  conveniences  for  the  user  of 
them;  but  the  consumer  of  goods  and  the  user  of  conveniences  are 
themselves  competitors  in  making  and  selling  a  certain  article,  and 
if  they  can  purchase  what  they  need  at  a  lower  rate  because  of 
competition  among  the  sellers  of  what  they  purchase,  what  they 
save  in  this  way  they  lose  again  by  the  fall  in  value  of  their  own 
wares  through  like  competition  among  themselves. 

And  so,  when  contrasted  with  the  unitary  and  peaceful  in- 
dustrial methods  of  the  near  future,  which  will  insure  employment 
and  abundance  to  every  person,  our  present  business  relations  are 
seen  to  be  a  perfect  muddle,  a  chaos,  a  confusion  worse  confounded, 
an  industrial  and  commercial  Babel  the  world  over,  an  enormous 
mass  of  tangle  that  laughs  defiance  in  the  face  of  our  political 
-economy  to  unravel  and  straighten  out  so  that  men  may  live  aright 


10 

if  tney  wish.  These  absurd  business  relations  present  a  problem 
before  which  this  political  economy,  with  its  laissez  faire  (to  use  its 
slang  word,  which  simply  means  let  every  one  fight  his  own  battle, 
look"  out  for  himself,  and  let  the  devil  take  the  hindmost) ;  this 
political  economy,  we  say,  with  its  laissez  faire,  its  free  trade,  its 
fair  trade,  its  tariffs,  its  labor  bureaus  aud  labor  statistics,  its  slid- 
ing scales  for  wages,  its  ever-recurring  strikes  of  workmen,  its 
short-lived  settlements  by  arbitration  between  employers  and  em- 
ployed, its  ever-alternating  business  booms  and  business  depressions, 
its  millions  of  workmen  living  from  hand  to  mouth,  earning  but 
a  bare  subsistence  with  the  hardest  toil  in  every  country;  its  armies 
of  paupers  subsisting  on  charity  while  the  globe  is  but  a  mine  of  in- 
exhaustless  and  undeveloped  riches,  and  could  support  in  abundance 
many  times  its  present  population:  before  all  this,  we  say,  the  econ- 
omic science  (so  to  miscall  it)  of  the  day,  stands  paralyzed  and  per- 
fectly helpless  so  long  as  it  does  not  or  will  not  see,  that  the  only 
and  sole,  and  only  possible  solution  of  this  problem,  the  only  pas- 
sage to  solid  land  out  of  this  quagmire  and  slough  of  despond 
lies  in  industrial  co-operation— not  partial  or  fractional  co-oper- 
ation, but  such  as  will  embrace  and  include  all  departments  of 
human  industry — agriculture,  manufactures,  commerce,  mining, 
all  the  arts  and  business  of  civilized  life— everything  that  can 
satisfy  human  wants,  so  that  no  branch  of  industry  whatever  will  or 
possibly  can  be  pitted  against  any  other,  in  the  way  of  each  striving  to 
outstrip  competitors,  to  get  the  most  from  the  public  and  give  the 
least  in  return,  as  is  now  the  universal  endeavor.  How  is  it  pos- 
sible for  either  peace  or  plenty  to  co-exist  with  such  omnipresent 
Ishmaelism — the  hand  of  every  man  against  his  neighbor  ?  At 
present,  mutual  antagonism,  mutual  disregard  of  each  other's  in- 
terests when  they  stand  in  the  way  of  a  good  bargain  ;  self-seek- 
ing, self -protection  and  defence  against  rivals,  is  the  rule  and 
governing  principle  of  business  activity  the  world  over. 

There  can  be  very  little  doubt,  we  may  observe,  in  passing, 
that  these  unhappy,  false,  ever-antagonizing  business  relations  of 
our  present  civilization  (relations  which  are  supposed  to  be  the 
only  ones  possible,  and  considered  to  be  a  matter  of  course,  a  kind 
of  natural  order  of  things,  and  as  such,  unchangeable  by  any  hu- 
man effort),  there  can  be  but  small  doubt,  we  say,  that  these  dis- 
cordant business  methods  are  a  most  prolific  source  of  the  fearful 
prevalence  of  drunkenness  and  its  consequent  mountain  of  crime 
in  this  country,  as  well  as  elsewhere.  In  the  United  States,  the 
incredible  sum  of  nine  hundred  millions  of  dollars  is  said  to  be 
spent  for  liquor  alone,  and  this  enormous  amount  is  probably 
doubled  as  loss  to  the  country  through  the  crime  and  its  endless 
judicial  expenses,  the  orphanage  requiring  support,  the  little  work, 
and  poor  at  that,  performed  by  the  army  of  topers,  all  caused  by 
the  drinking  of  that  liquor,  while  but  eighty-three  millions  are 
devoted  to  educational  purposes. 

This  prolific  cause,  viz.  :  our  discordant  business  life,  produces 
drunkenness  both  in  a  direct  and  indirect  manner. 

Directly,  by  reason  of  widespread  and  harassing  anxiety  for  the 
future,  by  losses  in  business,  by  the  failure  of  promising  ventures 
and  speculation,  by  wear  and  tear  of  mind  in  close  attention  to 


11 

legitimate  business,  by  great  bodily  prostration  from  long  hours  of 
labor  of  head  or  hands,  by  need  of  continual  effort  when  out  of 
health,  by  want  of  rational  relaxation  and  amusement  after  monot- 
onous toil,  from  want,  perhaps,  in  many  cases,  of  proper  food,  from 
want  of  such  mental  cultivation  as  would  lind  more  pleasure  in 
hours  of  rest,  from  books  or  lectures,  etc.,  than  in  places  of  low 
resort  where  drinking  and  gambling  are  going  on, — under  some 
or  all  of  these  circumstances,  stimulants  are  resorted  to  to  obtain 
a  brief  respite  from  care  and  exhaustion  ;  the  habit  becomes  con- 
firmed, and  the  man  is  lost,  perhaps,  beyond  reclaim,  while,  should 
lie  marry,  his  children  inherit  the  vicious  tendency  to  drink,  and 
thus  the  curse  is  transmitted  far  down  the  generations. 

Indirectly,  the  present  industrial  and  commercial  treadmill  is  a 
source  of  drunkenness  and  kindred  vices  from  the  utter  impossibil- 
ity, as  thinirs  are  now,  of  proper  supervision,  pro  per  education,  and 
proper  training  of  the  rising  generations.  There  is  an  appalling 
lack  of  what  is  absolutel}'  essential  for  a  true,  a  complete  and  healthy 
development  of  mind  and  body  as  regards  children  and  young 
people— a  lack  that  exists  almost  as  much  among  the  rich  and  well- 
to-do  people  as  among  the  poor.  Our  public  school  system  is, 
under  tlie  present  unfavorable  circumstance*,  the  very  best  that  it  is 
at  all  possible  to  provide  for  the  young;  but  it  is  most  wofully  de- 
ficient in  very  much  that  the  child's  nature  imperatively  craves. 
The  farm,  the  garden,  the  workshop,  the  free  range  of  tho  country, 
and  contact  with  the  countless  objects  in  nature,  where  the  intense 
activity  of  childhood  can  have  full  play  in  a  multitude  of  little  in- 
dustries with  which  children  are  ever  delighted,  and  of  which  they 
never  tire,  and  by  which  their  opening  faculties  are  developed  in  a 
iiiitaral  and  healthy  manner;  all  these  facilities  are,  of  course,  out  of 
the  question  in  the  city  schools,  and  yet  these  many  things  that 
are  thus  beyond  present  reach,  are,  we  say,  the  very  essentials  for 
a  broad  and  firm  foundation  for  after  mental  culture.  The  sphere 
of  the  senses  and  the  bodily  powers  is  the  ground  upon  which  the 
higher  faculties  rest  and  find  support  for  their  upward  expansion. 
But  all  that  can  be  furnished  to  children  now  are  the  school-room, 
a  pile  of  books,  and  a  bit  of  playground,  and  to  these  they  are 
not  drawn  but  driven,  not  drawn  or  attracted  by  an  inborn  love 
and  adaptedness  for  the  work  given  them  there  as  they  are  for  the 
objects  in  nature,  but  they  go  because  they  mvst,  and  if  they  were 
left  to  their  own  choice  the  school-room  would  be  deserted  and  left 
deserted,  except  by  those  who  would  go  thither  for  the  sake  of 
finding  companionship, and  also, in  the  absence  of  other  more  adapted 
and  congenial  employments,  would  go  from  the  desire  of  having 
something  to  do — irrepressible  in  the  young — even  though  the  task 
given  them  were  not  just  that  which  under  other  circumstances 
they  would  select. 

If  children  have  not  what  they  should  have  in  the  schools, 
neither  do  they  find  it  in  their  homes.  They  are  compelled  to  re- 
main there  out  of  school  hours,  and  find  such  occupation  as  they 
can  in  their  studies  and  in  such  amusements,  games,  etc.,  as  they 
have  learned  or  have  contrived  for  themselves,  with  or  without 
parental  aid.  But  the  home  circle  and  its  narrow  limits  soon  be- 
come to«  contracted  for  the  growing  youth  ;  and  now  parental  vigi- 


12 

mnce  is  taxed  to  the  uttermost  to  find  proper  companionship  for 
the  young  outside  the  home.  It  is  well  if  parental  authority  is 
competent  to  keep  the  young  man  and  his  sister  out  of  harm's  way. 
But  we  know  how  apt  this  authority  is  to  relax,  even  where  there 
is  any  effort  made  to  exert  it.  The  mother  is  ever  busy  with  the 
cares  and  fatigues  of  housekeeping  (if  unable  to  keep  hired  help), 
perhaps  nursing  one  infant  while  watching  the  sick  bed  of  another; 
the  father  away  all  day  at  his  place  of  business,  returns  wearied 
and  careworn  at  night,  so  that  the  children  are  in  a  great  measure 
left  to  themselves  and  deprived  of  the  attention  and  supervision 
that  is  so  necessary  for  them  to  have.  Hence  hundreds  escape  from 
parental  control ;  they  find  their  way  into  the  streets ;  associate  with 
those  they  find  there  or  at  disreputable  places,  and  so  the  most  vicious 
habits  are  formed  in  early  life— boys  learn  to  chew,  to  smoke,  to 
use  profan  language,  to  gamble,  to  mock  at  all  control ;  become 
roughs  or  bullies,  and,  easiest  of  all,  acquire  the  love  and  habit  of 
drink,  and  then  go  to  swell  the  army  of  drunkards. 

All  this,  we  say,  arises  from  the  impossibility  now  existing  of 
providing  properly  for  the  care  and  oversight  of  children,  and  of 
furnishing  them  with  employments  that  suit  their  ages,  their  ca- 
pacities, and  that  would  give  full  and  free  scope  to  expend  their 
abounding  energy  and  eager  desire  to  be  always  doing  something. 
Not  having  such  proper  channels  for  giving  vent  to  their  love  of 
activity,  they  expend  it  upon  objects  and  in  places  where  it  can  da 
only  mischief,  and  are  punished  accordingly. 

According  to  a  late  statement  in  the  papers,  the  public  schools- 
of  New  York  city  sent  out  150,000  children  to  enjoy  their  vacation 
until  the  1st  of  September.  From  the  above  glance  at  the  lack  of 
facilities  in  our  cities  for  healthy  mental  and  physical  develop- 
ment of  children  out  of  school,  the  prospect  is  not  very  cheering 
in  regard  to  this  great  army  of  emancipated  youngsters.  This  very 
vacation  itself  is  a  sharp  comment  on  the  present  state  of  things  ; 
for  it  implies  such  a  strain  of  mental  powers  for  many  months  in 
one  direction,  both  in  pupils  and  teachers  (attention  to  studies),  that 
it  is  found  to  be  an  imperative  necessity  for  the  health  of  all  con- 
cerned to  relax  and  go  to  the  other  extreme,  viz.,  of  months  with- 
out school.  Under  a  different  method — that  of  co-operative  life — 
the  daily  life  of  children  would  be — and  is,  in  Monsieur  Godin's 
"  Social  Palace "  at  Guise, -in  France — so  varied  with  instruction, 
work  and  play,  that  a  cessation  for  only  a  few  weeks  would  be  felt 
as  an  unbearable  punishment. 

Then  we  must  not  leave  out  of  view  that  other  great  army  of 
children  employed  in  mills  and  factories,  (in  Chicago  there  are  8,000 
under  fifteen  years  of  age,  who  work  from  ten  to  fourteen  hours 
every  day ! )  a  vast  number  of  whom,  we  can  hardly  doubt,  do  not 
fail  to  follow  the  example  of  older  workers,  and  find  solace  in 
drink  after  their  long  day  of  wearing  labor,  who  also  continue  the 
habit  as  they  grow  up,  and  in  this  way  present  the  indirect  effect 
(drunkenness)  of  the  omnipresent,  ever-operating  cause,  viz.  :  our 
deranged  industrial  methods.  For  in  co-operative  life  such  horrors 
could  not  possibly  find  place. 

In  the  present  state  of  the  human  race,  the  animal  and  selfish 
nature  has  yet  too  much  the  predominance  over  the  higher,  the 


13 

spiritual  and  unselfish  faculties.  But  we  charge  that  this  selfish 
nature  is  fostered  and  stimulated  to  the  uttermost  by  industrial 
competition  everywhere.  Human  wants  are  endless  and  boundless, 
as  it  is  right  they  should  be,  when  men  hunger  for  what  is  right 
for  them  to  have.  But  the  great  mass  of  men  are  kept  poor  by 
the  omnipresent  system  of  competitive  industry,  and  cannot  get 
what  they  should  have,  and  what  the  faculties  which  the  Creator 
has  given  them,  continually  crave  to  possess  and  enjoy.  They 
cannot  get  these  things  even  with  ceaseless  and  most  painful 
drudgery. 

This  constant  toil  to  which  the  great  mass  of  men  are  chained, 
tends  to  deaden  the  higher  faculties  and  to  keep  in  over-activity 
the  lower  nature  and  the  bodily  powers.  This,  added  to  discon- 
tent under  exhausting  and  monotonous  labor,  with  the  small  recom- 
pense received  for  it,  together  with  deficient  education  of  the  moral 
and  religious  faculties,  and  of  imperfect  training  in  every  respect 
because  of  such  incessant  and  poorly-rewarded  work  —  conditions 
which  would  tempt  a  very  angel  to  part  with  his  angelhood  —  all 
this  combines  powerfully  to  dispose  to  crime,  or  at  least  to  gre&tly 
weaken  the  power  to  resist  temptation  when  it  presents  itself. 

Hence  arises  not  only  drunkenness,  as  we  have  seen,  from  the 
having  recourse  to  liquor  as  a  temporary  relief  from  mental  de- 
pression, but  the  door  is  opened  for  crime  of  all  kinds,  when  in- 
ducements are  held  out  ;  and  these  are  never  wanting  in  city  life, 
such  as  it  is  now. 

And  precisely  the  same  cause  operates  to  vitiate  the  well-to-do 
classes,  and  those  whose  wealth  enables  them  to  live  without  work. 
If  they  are  idle,  not  knowing  how  to  spend  their  time  and  money, 
except  in  a  perpetual  round  of  frivolous  and  costly  pleasures,  or 
something  worse,  it  is  owing  to  the  want  of  this  proper  early  edu- 
cation and  industrial  training,  which  gives  an  ineradicable  love  of 
useful  employment,  such  as  can  be  found  only  in  the  co-operative 
life  which  the  proposed  Pacific  colony  will  inaugurate—  a  life  which 
is  already  a  great  success  at  Monsieur  Godin's  Social  Palace  at  Guise, 
in  France,  above  mentioned,  and  which  has  been  not  only  a  great, 
but  a  continuous  success  for  the  last  twenty-five  years.* 

And  we  may  say,  further,  that  from  the  humanizing,  elevating 
influences  which  will  be  brought  to  bear  on  every  one  in  the  co- 
operative life,  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave,  such  horrors  as  a 
famous  London  paper  has  lately  brought  to  light,  in  which  persons 
of  the  highest  social  standing  are  implicated,  would  be  impossible. 
They  are  only  the  natural  results  of  the  causes  of  crime  which  we 
have  glanced  at,  and  which  are  more  or  less  in  constant  operation 
in  the  crowded  and  "prosperous  "  (?)  cities  of  our  so  much  glorified 
civilization.  And  what  a  terrible  commentary  on  the  very  essence 
and  inmost  corrupt  character  and  tendencies  of  our  present  com- 
petitive, warring,  self  -discordant  civilization,  are  such  outcomes  of 
it  —  bursting  forth  from  the  midst  of  the  most  wealthy  and  aristo- 
cratic English  circles,  where  the  very  highest  extreme  of 


*  Harper's  Monthly  Magazine  for  April.  1872,  contains  an  Interesting  de- 
scription ol  tills  Institution,  and  the  November  (1886)  number  contains  a 
second  article  stating  how  it  has  Improved  since  1872.  Both  by  Mr.  Edward 
Howland  of  llammonton,  N.  J. 


14 

teenth  century  culture  and  refinement  is  believed  to  exist,  and 
where  the  loftiest  intellectual,  moral  and  religious  influences  are 
supposed  to  surround,  like  the  common  atmosphere,  every  member 
of  this  privileged  class. 

We  deem  it  in  the  highest  degree  improbable  that  the  swelling 
tide  of  drunkenness  and  crime  and  vice  of  all  kinds  in  this  and 
other  countries  will  ever  be  effectually  stemmed,  until  a  radical 
change  is  made  in  the  sphere  of  industry,  for  this  lies  at  the  bot- 
tom of  all  reforms.  Then  only  will  these  other  so  much  needed 
reforming  influences  have  a  fair  chance  to  take  effect.  Even  the 
teaching  of  religious  truth,  transcendantly  important  as  it  is,  since 
this  is  central  and  superior  to  all  other  and  lower  truths,  and  holds 
them  all  within  its  wide  embrace— this  is  shorn  of  nine-tenths  of 
its  inherent  power  to  elevate  and  humanize,  by  the  ceaseless  whirl, 
and  rush,  and  din,  and  rivalry,  and  excitement  of  competitive 
business.  How  is  it  possible  to  carry  out  the  Gospel  precept  of 
love  to  the  neighbor  amid  the  perpetual  clash  of  so  many  diverse 
and  contending  interests  ?  No  matter  how  well  disposed  a  relig- 
ious man  may  be,  and  in  the  sincere  endeavor  to  do  right,  he  must, 
as  a  business  man,  contend  as  a  rival  with  others.  It  is  "the bat- 
tle of  life,"  and  he  is  compelled  to  fight  in  self-defence  or  allow 
his  competitors  to  shove  him  aside,  and,  falling,  to  be  trampled 
under  their  feet. 

But  now  we  come  upon  a  very  noteworthy  fact.  It  is,  that  the 
very  evils  of  competition  are  themsaives  pointing  out  the  right 
way;  are  driving  men  into  the  very  methods  that  are  before  long 
to  sound  its  own  death-knell—driving  them  into  the  very  plan 
about  to  be  adopted  by  this  proposed  Pacific  colony. 

For  let  us  look  at  the  matter  and  we  shall  easily  trace  the  rising 
steps  of  the  co-operative  idea. 

First.  Let  us  recognize  the  important  fact  that  labor,  that  indus- 
try, is  tke  great  social  cement.  Men  are  drawn  together  by  their 
love  of  companionship— by  their  love  of  imparting  and  receiving; 
but  when  they  do  come  together,  it  is  tJie  having  something  to  do  in 
common  that  holds  them  together.  This  is  the  basis,  the  standing 
ground  upon  which  the  social  impulses  have  full  play.  Even  in 
gatherings  for  pure  sociality,  people  must  do  something  in  which 
either  all  the  company  can  participate,  or  they  divide  spontaneously 
into  groups,  each  group  selecting  some  favorite  occupation  or  pas- 
time. There  is  dancing,  perhaps,  also  cards,  billiards,  music, 
various  games;  private  readings  or  theatricals;  discussions  of  art 
topics,  or  science,  or  literature,  or  politics,  etc.  Then  the  dinner 
or  supper,  which  has  a  common  interest  for  all.  And  these  various 
occupations  give  rise  to  endless  play  of  thought  and  sentiment, — 
to  conversation  and  free  display  of  tastes  and  character.  So,  too, 
in  the  now  so  prevailing  summer  picnic.  Here  people  come  together 
for  mere  amusement  and  relaxation  in  the  open  air  of  the  country; 
but  even  then,  this  is  ever  based  on  something  to  do  in  common. 
There  are  the  swings,  the  bowling-alley,  the  base-ball,  the  croquet  or 
lawn-tennis,  the  fishing,  the  boating,  the  lunches  to  be  prepared 
for,  under  awnings  or  shade  trees  or  other  shelter,  all  this  bringing 
out  life  and  character  and  opening  sources  of  enjoyment  not  to  be 
found  in  the  humdrum  life  of  daily  monotonous  toil  and  business, 
is  now  distorted  and  dehumanized. 


15 

And  the  same  is  often  seen  when  people  come  together  to  per- 
form real  work,  as  in  country  corn-liuskings,  in  barn-raisings,  in 
plowing  matches,  in  harvest  work  of  various  kinds,  calling  neigh- 
bors together  to  unite  their  labors  in  housing  crops  when  time  is 
short  or  the  weather  threatening.  Here  the  work  is  not  hard,  it  is 
not  kept  up  too  long,  it  is  done  in  company,  in  the  open  air,  with 
more  or  less  emulation  as  to  who  shall  excel;  and  enlivened  with 
jokes  and  laughter  and  song  and  friendly  criticism,  and  thus  a 
great  amount  of  work  is  done  in  a  short  time,  and  with  but  slight 
fatigue,  if  any.  Persons  come,  perhaps  as  strangers,  and  part  as 
pleasant  acquaintances,  or  as  esteemed  and  lasting  friends,  all  from 
being  brougut  together  on  the  standing  ground  and  level  of  labor 
performed  in  common.  In  this  way  human  sympathies  are 
awakened  through  common  employments,  and  kept  up  by  them. 
The  wonderful  power  of  industry  in  which  many  are  united  by 
common  aims  (as  will  be  the  case  in  this  co  operative  city,  and  as 
now  witnessed  in  the  various  army  re-unions  to  meet  and  talk  over 
old  war  times)  to  enhance  the  pleasures  of  life,  totally  irrespective 
of  any  money  question  involved  in  Mich  industry;  this  is  a  thing 
almost  or  rather  entirely  unknown  and  undreamt  of  in  our  present 
w<?-systein  of  industry.  This,  as  now  conducted,  is  not  truly  digni- 
fied and  fairly  rewarded ;  all  buncombe  speeches  aixl  spread-eagle 
oratory  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding;  but  in  ninety -nine  cases 
out  of  every  hundred,  is  simply  painful  drudgery,  a  monotonous, 
treadmill  work,  carried  on  for  long,  weary  hours,  under  the  sharp 
eye  of  a  master  or  "  boss,"  it  may  be  ;  in  dark,  close,  ill-aired  work- 
shops, either  in  solitude,  or  with  disagreeable  companions  often; 
with  poor  pay,  sometimes  long  deferred,  or  in  shape  of  company 
store-orders  for  inferior  goods  at  a  much  higher  than  the  regular 
market  price;  and,  besides  all  this,  with  the  constant  uncertainty 
as  to  how  long  even  such  opportunity  to  earn  a  scant  hand-to-mouth 
subsistence  will  continue.  But  on  this  topic  we  cannot  now  en- 
large. "We  merely  wish  to  show  that  true  labor,  or  truly  organized 
industry,  is  a  great  social  cement,  and  a  great  elevator  and  ex- 
pander  of  human  character;  but,  that  carried  on,  as  it  now  is  in 
all  our  cities,  and  to  a  great  extent  in  the  rural  districts  also,  it 
both  unites  men  and  tears  them  asunder;  and  while  it  keeps  them 
employed  and  gives  habits  opposed  to  idleness,  it  narrows  and 
deadens  the  higher  human  faculties,  and  deter  orates  the  body  and 
the  bodily  powers.  It  unites  men,  because  all  human  wants  and 
the  industries  that  supply  those  wants,  are  interdependent  and  cor- 
relative, and  must  come  together  for  mutual  exchange.  But  on 
the  other  hand,  present  industry  divides  men  also,  and  renders 
them  mutually  antagonistic;  because  each  worker  has  to  right  the 
"battle  of  life  "on 'his  own  account,  and  so  must  contend  with 
others;  must  cmnpde  with  many  rivals;  for  what  one  person  gains 
of  the  custom  of  the  public  for  his  wares,  the  others  must  lose,  as 
is  evident;  and  so  each  maker,  and  each  seller  of  a  product,  is 
forced  to  do  all  he  can  to  secure  as  large  a  share  of  patronage  as 
possible,  that  is,  of  the  means  of  living  for  him  and  his. 

Everywhere  do  we  find  this  competition  of  individuals  against 
each  other,  and  of  associated  persons  against  rival  associations  in 
companies.  It  is  precisely  in  this  present  chaotic  industrial  sphere 


10 

as  it  would  be  in  the  sphere  of  military  operations,  if  every  soldier 
should  fight  the  common  enemy  by  himself,  and  without  any  con- 
cert of  action  with  his  fellows.  We  can  imagine  the  confusion,  the 
crowding,  the  struggling,  the  pushing  aside  and  down  of  the 
weaker,  and  the  treading  of  them  under  foot  by  the  stronger  ones, 
in  their  efforts  to  reach  the  enemy  or  to  ward  off  his  blows,  that 
would  take  place  in  this  mob  of  fighters;  and,  also,  the  very  great 
likelihood,  or  rather  certainty,  that  if  the  enemy  were  not  a  similar 
mob,  but  were  well  organized  in  companies  and  regiments,  in  good 
military  style,  that  short  work  would  be  made  of  the  opposing 
rabble — proving  the  vast  superiority  of  organization  (each  in  his 
own  place,  and  doing  his  own  part  towards  a  common  end)  over 
disorganization,  in  every  case  where  numbers  of  persons  must  act 
together  to  attain  a  common  object. 

*  Now,  in  military  matters,  absolute  and  dire  and  imperative 
necessity  has  forced  men  to  organize  great  numbers  of  soldiers  into 
many  duly  subordinated  bodies,  small  and  large,  as  into  companies, 
regiments,  battalions,  divisions,  etc.,  each  with  its  head  or  centre  or 
commander,  and  so  perfectly  drilled  to  move  in  complex  evolutions 
as  if  each  company  or  regiment  were  a  single  living  being.  Such 
organization  allows  of  the  concentration  of  such  great  power  in 
attack  as  would  never  be  possible  without  such  an  arrangement  of 
parts  into  a  singly-acting  whole. 

Now,  as  regards  the  realm  of  industry,  the  common  enemy  to  be 
attacked  and  conquered  is  human  want;  it  is  the  thousand  human 
needs  that  exist  in  every  community,  and  which  every  one  requires 
to  have  satisfied,  in  order  to  suit  and  develop  his  own  individual 
nature. 

And  the  question  then  arises  "shall  these  multitudinous  and 
common  wants  be  attacked  and  conquered— that  is,  be  daily  de- 
stroyed by  their  daily  satisfactions  through  the  struggling  efforts  of 
each  individual  to  do  so  for  himself  and  by  himself,  alone  and  un- 
aided; or  shall  such  conquest  be  every  day  achieved  by  the  united 
and  intelligent  efforts  of  the  entire  community,  by  the  joint  labor 
of  all  the  citizens  of  a  common  town  ?  " 

In  the  one  case  we  have  the  life  of  the  wandering  savage,  or  of 
the  lonely,  isolated  pioneer  and  his  family  in  the  primitive  wilder- 
ness, who  have  but  few  wants  (because  more  could  not  be  satisfied) 
poorly  supplied  with  ceaseless  toil;  and  in  the  other  case,  that  is,  in 
the  populous  city  of  the  present  day,  we  have— what  ?  We  have  only 
some  few  of  these  universal  wants  of  the  citizens  supplied  by  all  in 
their  collective  capacity.  It  is  only  a  few  of  these  many  wants 
that  the  city  in  its  corporate  capacity,  that  is,  through  the  city  gov- 
ernment and  its  officials,  who  are  only  the  agents  and  servants  of 
the  citizens  —  it  is  only  a  few  of  these  many  wants,  we  say, 
that  are  thus  satisfied,  and  to  do  which  all  the  citizens  contribute  a 
proportion  of  their  earnings  in  the  form  of  taxes,  and  which  con- 
tributions are  returned  to  them  again  in  the  form  of  paved  and 
drained  streets,  of  police,  of  city  government,  of  water-works,  of 
fire  department,  of  public  schools,  of  market-houses,  etc.,  as 
already  remarked  in  the  present  article.  The  poorest  man  in  the 
city  who  pays  his  taxes  enjoys  the  benefit  of  all  these  public  insti- 
tutions. He  walks  on  smooth  pavements,  travels  on  paved 


17 

thoroughfares,  has  water  in  his  house  and  yard;  has  police  to  walk 
the  block  he  lives  in;  sends  his  children  to  the  public  schools,  etc. 

But,  as  said,  the  citizens,  in  this  corporate  capacity,  combine  to 
supply  themselves  with  only  a  very  few  (such  as  just  mentioned) 
of  the  very  many  things  which  they  all  require ;  and  the  question 
arises  here  also,  "Why  should  they  stop  at  these  very  few?  Why 
not  supply  themselves  in  the  same  way  with  everything  they  need  ? 
With  all  that  every  one  requires,  each  contributing  a  part  of  his  or 
her  earnings  for  that  purpose,  just  as  was  done  for  the  few  things 
just  named?  Why  can  they  not  go  further  in  the  same  direction? 
Why  can  they  not  own  and  operate  the  surrounding  farm-lands  in 
common— in  joint  stock,  as  they  own  and  operate  the  city  water- 
works; or,  as  they  own  and  make  and  drain  and  clean  the  streets; 
or  as  they  own  and  use  the  wharves;  or  as  they  own  and  use  the 
public  schools  and  other  public  buildings?  And  if  nothing  hinders 
their  owning  and  operating  the  farm-lands  in  their  corporate  capa- 
city, why  not  also  own  and  operate  the  manufactures  of  various 
articles  which  the  locality  favors?  And  further  yet — why  not  also, 
in  this  same  joint-stock  manner,  own  and  operate  the  roads  and  the 
cars,  and  the  boats  and  other  transportation  facilities,  to  carry 
abroad  what  they  manufacture,  and  exchange  for  the  products  of 
distant  places,  and  do  all  this  through  their  salaried  agents— agents 
of  sale,  of  purchase,  and  of  exchange?" 

If  any  good  reason  can  be  shown  why  such  joint  ownership  and 
operating  of  farms,  of  manufactures,  and  of  commercial  facilities, 
by  the  citizens  in  their  corporate  capacity,  cannot  have  place  as 
well  as  in  those  few  things  (previously  mentioned)  which  are  done 
by  them  in  such  corporate  character,  it  will  be  well  to  let  that  rea- 
son be  known,  for  perhaps  it  can  be  removed. 

As  only  these  few  wants  which  have  been  named  (water-works, 
streets,  government,  police,  schools,  etc.,)  are  at  present  supplied 
to  themselves  by  the  citizens  acting  all  in  concert,  that  is,  in  their 
corporate  capacity — all  the  other  thousand  and  one  of  their  neces- 
sities are  left  to  be  attended  to  by  private  enterprise,  as  already  re- 
marked. Hence  arise  miles  upon  miles  of  stores  of  all  kinds, 
owned  and  conducted  by  individuals  and  corporations,  who  are  in 
constant  competition  with  each  other.  Here  the  fight  against  the 
common  enemy,  want  and  poverty,  is  carried  on  by  each  person  and 
company  for  himself  and  by  himself  or  itself — just  as  in  the  case 
of  the  military  mob— every  fighter  being  his  own  commander  ;  or 
it  is  company  against  rival  company.  They  crush  and  crowd,  and 
jostle  and  push  and  fight  each  other  in  fighting  the  common 
enemy — want— in  place  of  fighting  in  serried  phalanx,  as  soldiers 
have  been  forced  by  necessity  to  do  in  military  warfare.  And  we 
may  be  sure  that  successful  warfare  against  this  common  enemy — 
want—  must  be  carried  on  in  a  mode  precisely  similar,  viz.,  by  well 
organized  co-operation  of  the  fighters— the  soldiers  of  the  great  in- 
dustrial army.  Then  this  great  common  enemy  will  most  assur- 
edly, in  due  time,  vanish  from  the  earth,  like  morning  mist  before 
the  sun.  For  when  we  contemplate  the  immense  amount  of  the 
raw  material  of  wealth  that  is  lavished  with  unsparing  hand 
within,  upon,  and  above  this  rolling  planet,  and  which  only  awaits 
man's  intelligent  activity  and  industry  to  reach  out  and  gather  it, 


18 

and  bless  himself  therewith  ;— when  we  cannot  possibly  fail  to  see 
this  abundant  store  of  good  things  laid  up  all  around  us  for  man's 
uses  ;  then  it  is  equally  plain  that  the  wide'  prevalence  of  poverty  and 
misery  is  only  and  solely  a  most  severe  reflection  and  commentary 
upon  his  own  intense  selfishness  and  negligence,  und  by  no  means 
upon  the  goodness  and  wisdom  of  Providence,  who  has  furnished 
the  globe  with  everything  that  can  ever  be  wanted  in  earth-life  by 
an  endless  stream  of  human  generations.  Man  has  it  in  his  power 
to  surround  himself  with  every  comfort,  and  with  every  possible 
aid  to  the  development  of  his  entire  nature,  if  he  chooses;  but  he 
can  do  so  in  his  collective  capacity,  and  in  that  alone,  since  all  men 
are  but  parts  of  a  great  whole  (the  body  of  humanity),  and  each 
enjoys  or  suffers  with  the  rest. 

It  is  in  this  way  that  our  present  chaotic  industry,  the  world 
over,  while  it  brings  men  together  to  satisfy  their  mutual  wants, 
by  mutual  exchanges  of  products,  drive  them  asunder  at  the  same 
time  by  a  set  of  opposing  interests— as  by  forcing  them  to  antag- 
onize and  compete  writh  each  other.  And  this  antagonism  arid  im- 
perative necessity  for  competition  (under  our  present  false  industrial 
conditions)  drives  them  again  into  association — into  forming  in- 
corporated companies,  the  members  of  which  combine  to  co- 
operate among  themselves,  in  order  the  more  successfully  to 
compete  with  rivals,  through  the  strength  of  numbers  and  united 
wealth. 

This  is  the  unnatural  and  singular  spectacle  presented  by  both 
of  the  opposing  and  hostile  lines  of  industry—  viz.,  that  of  the 
capitalists,  and  that  of  the  workmen.  Capitalists  combine  or  co- 
operate to  extend  their  joint  business  and  to  exclude  outsiders  from 
their  own  facilities  as  much  as  possible — even  to  the  extent  of 
furnishing  (on  occasion)  aid  to  the  striking  workmen  of  a  rival 
company  to  continue  the  strike,  with  the  view  of  crippling  such 
rival,  as  has  lately  been  the  case,  if  the  newspaper  statement  can 
be  credited.  They  form  combinations  to  control  the  market  for 
an  article  by  buying  out  small  operators,  and  in  other  ways  have  it 
also  in  their  power  to  combine  to  lower  wages,  etc.  And,  on  the 
other  hand,  workmen  combine  and  co-operate  to  enforce  by  strikes 
an  increase  of  wages  and  a  shortening  of  the  hours  of  labor,  etc. 
Thus  competition  and  co  operation  (which  is,  however,  only  partial 
and  fractional  co-operation)  are  active,  side  by  side.  This  kind 
of  co-operation,  we  say,  is  but  partial  and  fractional  because  it  is. 
the  co  operation  of  persons  for  only  one,  or  but  for  a  few  purposes  ; 
while  all  the  other  interests  or  wants  of  these  co-operators  are 
left  out  of  consideration,  and  left  to  the  members  of  such  body  to 
provide  for  themselves,  each  attending  to  his  own  needs  as  best 
he  can.  Thus  a  number  of  mill  hands  combine  t  >  strike  for  higher 
wages,  and  levy  a  certain  contribution  from  each  to  form  a  com- 
mon fund  for  their  support  during  the  strike.  They  regard  this, 
and  this  only,  while  they  omit  to  combine  to  unite  their  savings 
to  purchase  at  wholesale  and  at  the  lowest  market  price,  other 
things  they  all  want— as  provisions,  clothing,  house-room,  fuel, 
etc.  If  they  did  do  so,  by  establishing  co-operation  stores, 
though  this  would  be  but  a  slight  bettering  of  their  condition  as 
things  now  are,  it  would  still  be  looking  in  the  right  direction,. 


19 

and  give  promise  of  co-opcnition  on  a  -wider  scale,  ami  for  far 
greater  results. 

And  tin-  same  is  true  of  the  capitalists  who  club  their  means 
to  establish  and  carry  on  a  large  manufactory  or  other  business. 
Tlieir  object  in  thus  combining  and  co-operating  is  to  make 
money.  But  when  the  money  is  made  and  the  profits  divided, 
they  do  not  think  of  spending  that  wealth  in  concert,  or  in 
combination,  so  as  to  furnish  themselves  with  a  thousand  other 
things  whicli  they  want  just  as  much  as  the  money  wherewith 
to  buy  them.  But  each  member  of  such  firm  procures  them  for 
himself  at  perhaps  a  much  higher  price  than  they  are  worth,  and 
probably  of  an  inferior  quality  also,  all  of  which  could  be  avoided, 
under  other  circumstances,  by  the  employment  of  an  experienced 
purchasing  agent,  familiar  with  the  character  of  goods,  and  acting 
for  them  all. 

But  such  things  cannot  be  done  at  present,  except  in  the  smallest 
and  most  partial  manner  ;  as  when  a  few  wealthy  persons  put 
their  means  together  to  build  a  unitary  home  or  large  hotel  for 
themselves  and  families  ;  or  purchase  a  pleasure-ground  for  sum- 
mer resort,  erect  cottages  and  provide  the  place  with  everything 
that  can  render  it  attractive  in  warm  weather.  What  is  wanted  is 
not  such  partial,  half-way  co-operation,  for  a  partial  purpose,  and 
for  only  a  few  and  exclusive  number  of  persons,  but  co-operation 
among  all  the  inhabitants  of  a  t  >wn  or  city,  for  the  supply  of  every 
want  of  every  person  in  the  city.  There  is  no  good  reason  why 
this  cannot  be  done,  and  this  is  the  aim  and  intention  of  this  Pacific 
Colony  scheme. 

These  countless  combinations,  companies  and  partial  co-operative 
movements,  going  on  everywhere  at  present,  and  more  numerous 
and  active  than  ever  before,  only  intensify  the  universal  competi- 
tion and  struggle.  Men  being  well  aware  of  the  power  of  numbers 
united  for  a  common  end,  mass  themselves  into  corporations,  com- 
panies, unions,  etc.,  to  compete  successfully,  as  they  hope,  with 
rivals  in  the  same  line  of  business.  The  larger  and  more  wealthy 
are  such  bodies,  the  fiercer  grows  the  war  (giants  are  pitted  against 
each  other,  as  in  these  railroad  contests),  the  more  furiously  the 
competitive  battle  rages,  and  the  battle  field  is  strewn  with  the 
victims.  This  industrial  strife  is  world-wide — the  smoke  of  the 
contest  envelops  the  globe,  and  therefore  its  very  intensity  must,  it 
wrould  seem,  soon  exhaust  itself  and  come  to  an  end.  That  the 
change  is  at  hand,  is  already  apparent,  and  here  we  will  see  what 
we  started  out  to  show  in  the  statement  made  in  a  previous  para- 
graph of  this  article,  viz. ,  that  this  giant  evil  of  universal  competition 
carried  within  itself  the  cause  and  instrument  of  its  own  destruc- 
tion, just  as  all  evil  does,  but  ever  manifested  only  at  the  proper  time. 

As  just  said,  it  is  the  countless  combinations  and  partial  co- 
operative enterprises  of  vast  capital,  and  armies  of  workmen,  that 
are  daily  intensifying  this  universal  competition ;  and  it  is,  we 
think,  not  hard  to  see,  that  out  of  this  very  intensity  of  activity 
will  come  its  overthrow,  and  the  gradual  inauguration— in  place 
of  competition— of  the  era  of  all-embracing  co-operation.  And 
this  transition  from  competition  to  co-operation,  appears  to  be 
approaching  in  two  modes : 


20 

1st.  We  see  it  in  the  system  of  "  pooling  "  their  opposing  inter- 
ests by  the  gigantic  railroad  and  other  corporations  that  seek  to- 
monopolize  and  control  the  various  markets.  These  great  rivals  in 
the  same  line  of  business,  see  that  their  cutting  of  rates  (in  the  case 
of  the  railroads)  and  the  like  operations,  to  cripple  each  other,  is  a 
losing  game.  They,  therefore,  call  a  halt,  and  pool  their  interests 
or  put  them  in  a  common  stock,  and  pay  out  the  common  profits 
according  to  the  amount  of  each  company's  interest  in  such  com- 
mon fund  ;  and  though  such  pooling  arrangements  do  not  usually 
last  long,  and  are  seldom  strictly  adhered  to  while  they  do  last,  yet 
they  show  that  these  great  corporations  begin  to  see  the  ruinous 
nature  and  effects  of  competition,  and  the  absolute  necessity  of 
co-operation  of  some  kind,  however  partial  and  imperfect,  and 
merely  temporary.  And  this  will  lead  to  the  further  seeing  that  if 
the  need,  not  only  of  railroad  and  transportation  facilities,  but  all 
•  the  other  means  of  supplying  the  wants  of  a  city  were  "pooled" 
or  provided  for  by  the  co-operation  and  united  energies  of  all  the 
citizens— their  interests  being  represented  by  shares  of  stock  in  a. 
common  industrial  fund,  just  as  the  interests  of  the  stockholders  of 
a  railroad  are  represented  by  the  shares  which  each  person  holds — 
that  then  competition  could  not  possibly  have  place  any  more  than, 
there  can  be  competition  between  the  shareholders  of  the  lailroad 
stock,  but  each  would  strive  to  promote  the  interests  of  the- 
whole. 

In  the  second  of  these  two  modes,  co-operation  in  its  complete 
character  is  being  "  evolved  "  out  of  the  present  intense  competitive- 
method  of  industry,  through  the  checks  which  the  encroachments- 
of  capital  and  monopoly  are  now  receiving  from  the  present  great 
and  rapidly-speading  uprising  of  the  working  classes  against  the-- 
misery  they  suffer  from  competition.  They  rise  to  demand  a  fair 
share  of  the  wealth  which  they  see  that  their  labor  has  produced. 
They  rise  against  such  an  unequal  distribution  of  wealth,  by 
forming  numerous  large  and  widely  spread  combinations  of  workers 
in  every  civilized  country,  which  are,  in  fact,  not  limited  to  any 
country,  but  they  have  become  international,  and  send  delegates 
from  all  to  represent  them  in  world's  conventions,  and  to  dis- 
cuss their  industrial  grievances.  They  thus  learn  the  great  power 
that  lies  in  co-operation,  even  for  a  single  object.  The  immense 
power  a  body  of  united  workmen  already  wield  is  well  shown  in 
the  following  extract  from  a  letter  of  last  August  from  an  American 
in  London.  The  writer  says  : 

The  increase  of  pauperism  here,  we  learn,  is  something  fearful ; 
and  a  certain  intelligence  keeps  pace  with  the  increase.  The  old- 
style  of  crime,  such  as  theft,  rubbery,  murder,  and  acts  of  individ- 
ual depravity  or  desperation,  have  given  place  to  combinations, 
where  masses  act  in  deadly  antagonism  to  their  supposed  oppressors. 
We  call  attention  to  the  strike  among  the  builders  here.  They 
enforced  their  demand— a  full  day's  wages  for  eight  hours'  work, 
and  a  half  holiday  upon  Saturday.  After  the  result  became  known, 
the  Times  very  coolly  told  the  capitalists  or  contractors  that  they 
would  have  to  conciliate  the  laborers ;  that  no  remedy  against 
these  combinations  could  be  devised  through  legislation,  or  the 
enforcement  of  the  laws  already  enacted.  One  day,  all  the  building: 


21 

and  repairs  in  London,  that  arc  immense,  suddenly  ceased  without 
a  word  of  warning,  and  from  some  unseen  source  came  the  demand 
to  cease  work,  and  the  laborers  dropped  their  tools  and  disap- 
peared. A  commission  waited  on  the  contractors,  stated  their 
demands,  and  no  threats  or  entreaties  could  move  them  to  any 
modification.  Even  a  demand  (or  request  by  the  contractors,  no 
doubt,  is  meant)  for  another  hour  on  Saturday  in  which  to  pay  off, 
was  so  stoutly  resisted  for  over  a  week,  that  it  had  to  be  aban- 
doned.—(Don  Piatt,  in  some  paper  quoted  in  the  New  York 
Graphic.) 

All  this  in  conservative  London,  where  about  one  hundred 
years  ago,  or  in.the  reign  of  George  III.,  a  law  was  passed  by  Par- 
liament prohibiting  workmen  from  combining  to  raise  the  rate  of 
wages.  In  the  United  States,  the  discussion  of  the  capital  and 
labor  problem  is  assuming  very  large  proportions.  Workmen's 
unions  of  many  kinds  are  constantly  forming,  and  tend  to  the  con- 
solidation of  all  minor  unions  and  the  various  trades  into  the  all- 
embracing  one  of  the  Knights  of  Labor.  The  papers  devoted  to 
the  labor  question  are  rapidly  multiplying,  and,  in  fact,  this  ques- 
tion is  the  overshadowing  one  of  the  hour,  because  it  is  unmis- 
takably evident  that  matters  on  this  point  are  approaching  a  great 
crisis.  The  conflict  between  labor  and  capital  must  soon  be  settled 
in  either  a  peaceable  or  forcible  manner  ;  or,  rather,  it  can  never 
be  settled  in  the  latter  manner  at  all.  The  only  possible  and  final 
settlement  must  be,  and  will  be,  on  the  basis  of  right  and  justice, 
and  a  fair  reward  for  his  labor  for  everyone.  And  it  can  only  be 
hoped  that  the  great  army  of  laboring  men  and  women,  seeing  the 
great  power  they  can  wield  by  combination  and  co-operation,  will 
see  also, 

First — That  the  only  thorough  escape  from  these  labor  troubles 
lies  in  a  true  and  all-embracing  system  of  co-operation  and  organi- 
zation of  industry  in  all  its  branches  —  farming,  manufactures, 
commerce,  mining,  etc., — beginning  with  an  industrial  town,  fore- 
planned  and  arranged  carefully  in  all  its  details  —  where  every 
wTant  of  every  citizen  will  be  supplied  by  the  united  industry  of 
all,  each  holding  shares  or  stock  in  the  common  fund,  and  paid 
out  of  that  for  his  work,  by  the  general  disbursing  agent  or  agents 
of  the  town,  appointed  or  elected,  according  to  methods  agreed 
upon  by  the  citizens. 

Secondly — And  it  is  further  to  be  hoped  that  this  industrial  army 
will  also  see  that  as  there  must  be  a  gradual  transition  or  stepping 
stone  from  our  present  industrial  warfare  to  the  full  co-operative 
condition,  as  just  outlined — that  this  transition  step  is  that  of 
industrial  partner xhip  of  the  employed  with  the  employers,  brought 
about  by  the  purchase  of  shares  in  the  business  of  the  employers — 
wherever  that  can  be  done.  If  the  millions  that  have  been  lost  in 
the  strikes  of  past  years  had  been  devoted  to  this  object,  the  peace- 
ful solution  of  labor  troubles  would  by  this  time  have  been  well 
under  way.  But  the  bitter  experience  will  not  have  been  in 
vain  if  it  shall  lead  the  working  masses  to  take  this  course  at 
last. 

Wherever  such  partnership  of  workmen  with  their  employers 
has  been  adopted,  strikes  are  at  an  end  ;  more  and  better  work  is . 


2.3 

done  ;  the  shareholding  workmen  take  an  interest  in  the  prosperity 
of  the  whole  establishment ;  have  a  pleasant  stimulus  to  work,  even 
to  excess,  and  peace  arid  content  are  the  rule  and  not  the  exception. 

We  conclude,  by  stating  : 

First— That  the  projector  of  this  co-operative  commonwealth, 
or  the  "  Pacific  Colony,"  is  Mr.  Albert  K.  Owen,  the  Chief  Engineer 
of  the  American  and  Mexican  Pacific  Railroad,  now  in  course  of 
construction,  and  which,  when  completed,  will  place  the  above  col- 
ony within  five  days'  travel  from  ISew  York  city,  and  one  and  a 
quarter  days  from  Galveston,  Texas.  Mr.  Owen  is  a  man  of  great 
ability  and  energy,  whose  whole  soul  is  devoted  to  the  cause  of  co- 
operation, and  to  this  project  in  particular.  He  has  traveled  ex- 
tensively in  Europe  and  elsewhere ;  has  been  for  many  years  a 
prominent  figure  in  Government  circles,  both  of  the  United  States 
and  of  Mexico,  in  the  capacity  of  projector  and  engineer  of  rail- 
roads in  botli  countries,  and  in  other  large  plans  for  public  utilities  ; 
lias  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  General  Grant  in  Mexican  enterprises, 
and  in  various  other  ways  is  a  man  of  very  superior  qualilications, 
for  taking  the  lead  in  this  most  important  of  all  his  undertakings — 
his  project  of  a  co-operative  commonwealth.  He  is  the  author  of 
a  work  of  200  pages,  entitled  "Integral  Co-operation"  (pub- 
lished by  the  John  W.  Lovell  Co.,  New  York,  price  80  cents),  be- 
sides many  other  earlier  publications  connected  with  his  railroad 
labors  and  surveys,  some  of  which  have  been  issued  in  Spanish  by 
the  Mexican  Government.  "Integral  Co-operation"  has  been 
published  at  the  city  of  Mexico  in  Spanish.  His  address  is  Room 
708,  32  Nassau  street,  New  York  city.  Residence— Chester,  Dela- 
ware County,  Pa. 

Second—  That  a  weekly  pamphlet  is  published  in  the  interest  of 
this  movement,  and  edited  by  Mr.  Edward  Howland  and  Mrs. 
Marie  Howland,  of  HMmmonton,  New  Jersey.  It  is  called  "  The 
Credit  Foucier  of  Sinaloa,"  of  which  thirty-six  numbers  have  now 
appeared.  The  first  number  was  a  pamphlet  of  sixty-four  pages 
by  Mr.  Owen,  giving  a  general  outline  of  the  proposed  plan.  The 
other  numbers  contain  eight  pages. 

Within  the  ten  months  that  the  paper  has  been  issued,  over  2,100 
stockholders  have  sent  in  their  names,  representing  10,200  shares, 
at  $10  per  share,  and  they  have  over  $370, 000  pledged  for  deposit. 
They  range  from  Maine  to  Texas,  and  from  the  Atlantic  seaboard 
to  the  Pacific,  and  the  little  paper  is  the  common  vehicle  of  com- 
munication from  all  parts  of  the  country.  Questions  from  Cali- 
fornia are  answered  from  New  Y'ork,  or  New  Jersey,  or  Texas,  etc. , 
and  mce^  versa.  The  proposed  colonists  put  their  inquiries,  give 
their  opinions  and  suggestions,  and  receive  answers  from  various 
quarters,  so  that  the  whole  project  is  thoroughly  ventilated,  or  as 
far  as  it  can  be,  through  the  medium  of  the  paper,  The  Credit  Fon- 
der, and  all  appear  eager  to  see  the  whole  number  of  shares  taken 
that  are  required  to  be  paid  in  before  the  land  can  be  bought  and 
the  first  start  made. 

The  address  of  Mrs.  Marie  Howland  and  Mr.  Edward  Howland, 
is  Hammonton,  New  Jersey.  It  may  be  mentioned  that  Mrs. 
Howland  is  the  author  of  a  first-class  novel,  "Papa's  Own  Girl," 


23 

lately  published  for  the  second  time  ;  in  which,  after  sharp  hand- 
ling of  fashionable  follv  and  vice,  she  gives,  under  the  garb  of  fic- 
tion, a  true  and  very  interesting  account  of  co-operative  life  at 
Monsieur  Godin's  now  famous  "  Social  Palace  "  at  Guise,  in  France, 
in  which  remarkable  and  unique  establishment  she  resided  for 
some  tixne,  and  so  speaks  with  authority. 


WM.  H.  MULLER,  M.  D. 


,  Allegheny  Co.,  Penn. 
April  12,  1886. 


THE  REPUBLIC  COMPLETED  AND  LABOR  TROUBLES 

ENDED  BY  THE  UNION  OF  THE  INTERESTS 

AND    INDUSTRIES    OF    ITS    CITIZENS 

IN  CO-OPERATIVE  CITIES. 

BY  W.  H.  MULLER,  M.  D. 


IN  the  issue  of  the  Sunday  World,  for  March  2d,  1890,  I 
noticed  and  read  a  few  days  since,  under  the  heading1  "  To 
'Capitalize  Labor,"  the  letters  of  several  correspondents,  giv- 
ing their  various  plans  for  the  relief  of  labor  troubles. 
They  are  evidently  not  aware  that  a  plan  for  a  co-operative 
and  truly  human  life— a  plan  that  may  safely  be  said  to  fill 
the  bill  completely,  leaving,  apparently,  nothing  to  be  de- 
. sired,  is  now,  and  for  the  last  three  years  has  been,  in 
process  of  successful  "  materalization."  with  prospects 
brighter  now  than  ever  before.  The  members  of  this  in- 
corporated joint  stock  Integral  (complete)  Co-operative.  Col- 
ony have  come  together  (in  a  locality  unsurpassed  for 
climate,  soil,  productions  and  harbor,  river  and  ocean  fa- 
cilities) to  suppy  themselves  by  themselves — by  their  own 
united  labors,  with  every  thing  required  by  men,  women 
.and  children  to  live  a  proper  and  satisfactory  human  life. 
They  have  made  a  successful  start  to  carry  on  the  whole 
circle  of  industries  needed  to  abundantly  feed,  clothe, 
house,  educate,  etc.,  etc.,  every  member  of  his  or  her  fam- 
ily. They  will  be  able  to  supply  each  individual  with  every 
article  of  neccessity,  of  comfort  and  luxury  that  a  really  civ- 
ilized and  refined  community  should  have.  They  have 
done  with  the  hireling  wage  system,  with  its  endless  strikes 
and  lockouts  and  disputes  between  workmen  and  employ- 
ers, and  also  with  cut-throat  competitors,  which  is  only  a 
free  fight  for  all,  when  the  strong  push  aside  the  weak,  and 
seize  all  the  prizes  ;  a  battle  and  struggle  for  life  which  will 
do  for  animals,  and  for  savage  tribes  among  each  other, 
but  is  entirely  out  of  place  among  so-called  civilized  human 
beings,  whose  mental  organization  and  education  should 
enable  them  to  harmonize  their  common  interests,  by  scien- 
tifically organized>m£ed  labors. 

These  colonists  allow  no  individual,  no  company  or 
trust  to  supply  them  with  any  necessary  of  life,  and  fleece 
them  by  controlling  prices,  as  well  as  the  wages  of  those 
who  produce  the  article.  By  their  own  united  labors  on 

24 


25 

their  farm  lands  of  many  thousand  of  acres,  and  in  their 
diversified  factories  and  work-shops  they  will  supply  them- 
selves, first  and  foremost,  with  what  they  need,  and  only 
then,  dispose  of  the  surplus  to  outsiders.  They  will  not 
produce  articles  of  necessity  and  then  send  them  a  thou- 
sand miles  off  to  sell,  while  thousands  of  their  own  citizens 
are  starving  and  shivering  for  want  of  their  products,  as 
the  case  in  all  our  "  civilized "  cities  at  the  present  day. 
The  colonists  have  changed  all  that,  and  in  the  near  future, 
their  splendid  "city  by  the  sea" — Pacific  City— on  the  54 
square  mile  harbor  of  Topolobampo,  on  the  Gulf  of  Cali- 
fornia, State  of  Sinaloa,  Mexico,  will  attract  the  attention 
and  admiration  of  the  nations,  as  the  pioneer  city  of  ' '  the 
new  civilization "  based  upon  Integral  (or  complete)  In- 
dustrial Co-operation  everywhere. 

These  colonists  are  a  choice  band  of  very  intelligent  and 
plucky  men  and  women  both  from  this  country  and  from 
Europe  who  clearly  see  the  fix  that  this  republic  of  the 
United  States  has  got  itself  into,  at  the  close  of  the  first 
century  of  its  existence  It  has  amassed  the  enormous  sum 
of  $60,000,000,000  of  national  wealth— enough  to  give  $1,000 
to  each  person  of  its  sixty  millions  of  people  ;  and  yet  this 
great  wealth  is  so  piled  up  in  the  hands  of  a  few  that  the 
half  of  it,  or  some  thirty  billions  (30)  (not  millions)  is 
owned  by  only  two  and  one-half  (2£)  per  cent  of  the  pop- 
ulation. Think  of  it !  (See  the  articles  by  Mr  Thomas  G-. 
Shearman  on  this  subject,  in  the  Forum  for  September 
and  October,  1889.)  This  concentration  of  vast  wealth  in 
the  minority  of  the  population  has  been  very  rapid  within 
the  last  thirty  years ;  it  is  still  going  on  at  the  same  or  a 
greater  rate,  and  in  thirty  years  more  the  prospect  is  that 
this  minority  will  hold  all  the  nation's  wealth,  and  the  bal- 
ance, the  nearly  sixty  millions  of  people,  will  live  at  the 
sufferance  of  a  few  hundred  thousand. 

These  colonists  see  plainly  that  this  great  and  growing 
inequality  of  conditions  between  four  citizens  of  the  same 
republic  and  who  are  all  "  equal  before  the  law  " — as  sup- 
posed— is  only  the  very  natural  and  unavoidable  (so  far) 
consequence  of  the  great  liberty  we  all  enjoy  under  repub- 
lican institutions — the  liberty  for  each  person  or  each  busi- 
ness firm  or  corporation  to  hew  out  his  or  its  own  road,  in 
quest  of  wealth,  and  also  to  the  absolute  necessity  for  them 
to  dp  so — simply  because  industry  is  not  co-operatively  or- 
ganized, but  that  we  live  under  me  reign  of  a  most  disor- 
derly individualism,  everyone  for  himself,  and  the  devil 
eaten  the  hindmost— where  the  implied,  if  not  the  out- 
spoken rule  of  action,  is  that 

"  He  must  get.  who  baa  the  power, 
And  he  must  keep,  who  can." 


26 

The  truth  of  this  must  be  evident.  The  benevolent  im- 
pulses of  our  human  nature,  however,  through  legislation 
and  the  numerous  and  various  charitable  institution  of  the 
land,  do  what  they  can  to  soften  the  harsh  conditions  arising 
from  this  confused  individualism  and  clashing  of  indus- 
trial interests.  But  this  legislation  and  these  charities  are 
not  ridacal ;  they  do  not  reach  the  cause  of  present  troubles 
and  never  will.  They  are  but  soothing  plasters  on  the  sick 
social  body,  that  requires  an  entire  change  in  its  mode  of 
life,  to  get  well  and  enjoy  that  life — and  this  will  and  can 
be  found  only  in  universal  co-operative  industry. 

For  it  is  easily  seen  in  the  absence  of  intelligently  organ- 
ized and  united  industry  and  interests,  each  person  or  firm 
is  compelled  to  fight  its  own  "battle of  life" against  a  host 
of  competitors.  Therefore  we  live  in  the  midst  of  a  cease- 
less rush  and  din  and  excitement  of  industrial  warefare  ; 
— ceaseless  competition,  contention  and  struggle  of  people 
to  keep  their  heads  above  water,  or  be  pushed  to  the  bottom 
by  stronger  neighbors ;  and  the  natural  results  are  just 
what  might  have  been  expected— a  kind  of  business  and 
industrial  pandemonium — perpetual  ups  and  downs  of  for- 
tune ;  rich  one  day,  poor  the  next ;  an  average  of  between 
200  or  300  failures  each  week  in  the  United  States,  or  12, 

000  a  year,  which  means  some  60,000  persons  obliged  to 
begin  the  world  over  again  and  hope  for  better  luck  in  the 
renewed  cruel  "  battle  of  life;"  an  appalling  list  in  each 
day's  paper  of  suicides,  murders,  embezzlements,  of  insane, 
of  burglaries,  incendiarism  (increasing) ;  of  divorces,  elope- 
ments ;  fresh  victims  to  swell  the  great  social  evil ;  families 
wrecked  by  drinking  saloons —  the  exploits  of  drunkards, 
gamblers,  of  train  wreckers,  road  agents,  express  robbers, 
of  masked  gangs,  of  '  *  white  caps  "  or  "  regulators  " ;  of  shot 
gun  intimidation  at  the  polls ;  of  violence  and  depredation 
by  the  hands  of  roughs  and  young  '•  hoodlums"  in   every 
city  ;  and  of  wide  spread  political   corruption   and  bribery 
at  elections — and  the  astounding  greed  and  rush  for  office 
on  the  accession  of  a  new  party  to  power — not  to  speak  of 
many  other  glaring  evils — portions  of  the  skeleton  in  our 
"  triumphant  democracy." 

Now  all  this  is  owing  to  two  causes.  First,  the  utter  impos- 
sibility, as  things  now  are — or  under  the  present  disorderly, 
tangled-up  industrial  conditions — of  giving  (up  to  the  age  of 
puberty)  all  children  at  all  hours  and  at  all  places,  the  watch- 
ful care,  the  proper  training  in  virtuous  and  industrious  habits, 

1  he  improving  companionship  and   surroundings,  which   they 
need  as  much  as  they  do  food  and  clothing,    in  order  to   de- 
velop into  noble  men  and  women,  and 

Second,  as  to  adults,  an  eqnally  utter  impossibility  for  every- 
one to  obtain  steady  and  suitable  employment,  with  its  assured 


27 

and  lair  reward  for  work  done — because  all  business  is  at  hap- 
hazard— always  uncertain  as  to  duration  and  profit — hardly 
more  than  a  mere  lottery,  where  the  prizes  are  few  and  the 
blanks  multitudinous. 

Then  besides  these  evils  just  enumerated — we  see  that  the 
control  of  every  necessity  of  life,  as  well  as  the  nation's  land, 
and  even  of  legislation  itself,  is  coming  more  and  more  each 
day,  under  the  heavy  hand  of  the  gigantic  money  power  —which 
is  hand  in  glove  with  that  of  Europe,  especially  England.  (See 
the  famous  Hazzard  Circular.) 

Is  it  not  as  plain  as  the  sun  at  noon  that  the  only  way  out 
of  this  industrial  quagmire  is  for  the  people  everywhere  in 
small  bodies  to  "pool"  and  carry  on  their  <?«?«  industries  by  them- 
selves or  for  themselves;  to  unite  their  means,  become  their  own 
capitalists,  employ  their  own  capital  in  their  own  labors,  and  keep 
and  divide  equitably  among  themselves,  the  entire  fruit  of 
those  labors — to  do  this,  instead  of  hireing  themselves  out  as 
wage  workers  for  a  bare  pittance,  and  allow  employing  capi- 
talists and  corporations  to  fleece  them  and  grow  fat,  and 
, swell  the  growing  army  of  millionares,  while  the  workers  go 
to  swell  the  army  of  paupers  and  tramps?  Is  it  asked  how? 
The  answer  is,  by  forming  over  the  whole  country,  in  every 
county  or  every  state,  numbers  of  integral  co-operative  towns  and 
cities — each  of  which  will  own  and  work  its  surrounding  farm 
lands,  (thus  forever  the  vexed  question  of  land  divisions  and  land 
ownership,  since  in  the  co-operative  city  each  person  will  have  all 
the  land  products  of  every  kind  that  he  or  she  can  ever  want, 
or  can  possibily  use,  besides  the  use  of  his  private  lot  and 
dwelling  house,  held  by  the  city) — will  own  and  work  its  own 
factories',  own  and  work  all  ita  public  utilities-  every  appliance 
which  the  people  of  the  city  need  for  the  convenience  of  all 
— as  its  water-workes,  its  gas  works,  its  electric  and  power 
plants;  its  street  cars  and  railroads;  its  wharves,  its  ships  and 
steamers,  also  its  parks  and  gardens;  its  schools;  libraries, 
museums  art  galleries,  theatres,  music  halls,  lecture  rooms, 
labratories,  etc.,  etc.  All  these  things  the  city  itself — the  cit- 
izens themselves  in  joint  stock — should  own  and  use,  at  a  mod- 
erate charge  to  the  users,  to  keep  in  repair  and  extend  and  im- 
prove them  and  not  surrender  to  private  persons  or  companies 
the  franchises  of  these  public  and  uuiversal  wants  to  be  sup- 
plied by  them  at  many  times  the  reasonable  cost.  Wherever 
any  of  our  cities  or  those  of  Europe  have  supplied  themselves 
with  these  public  necessities  stepping  into  the  place  of  private 
companies  the  citizens  have  enjoyed  much  cheaper  rates,  and 
the  service  has  been  better. 

All  this  is  what  the  colonists  at  Topolobampo  are  doing,  and 
will  do  more  and  more  as  their  numbers  and  facilities  increase. 
And  the  people  of  these  United  States  will,  in  the  near  future, 
•ee  the  examples  there  set  will  have  to  be  followed,  and  that 


28 

there  is  no  other  possible  way  out  of  our  industrial  troubles,  for 
escape  through  mere  political  action,  there  is  none.  It  seems  to 
be  a  popular  idea  that  no  important  reform  can  be  carried  out 
without  creating  a  political  party  for  that  purpose — with  its  plat- 
form, presidential  candidate,  etc.,  rand  that  the  whole  country 
must  be  pushed  into  the  line  of  that  particular  reform  or  re- 
forms, to  attain  the  desired  end.  This  may  be  done  when  the 
popular  sentiment  in  a  majority  of  the  states  runs  in  favor  of 
the  proposed  policy,  as  in  the  case  of  the  rise  of  the  republican 
party,  through  the  determination  of  the  North  to  preserve  the 
Union  and  crush  the  slave  power.  But  when  popular  senti- 
ment is  not  thus  unanimous  then  the  advocates  of  this  and  that 
reform  endeavor  to  pull  the  whole  country  over  to  their  views, 
through  their  papers,  pamphlets,  traveling  lecturers,  etc.,  and 
all  that  these  cost. 

Now  we  think  that  this  is  not  at  all  necessary.  We  believe 
that  all  needed  reforms  are  involved  in  the  correct  planning 
and  clear  cut  organization  of  the  circle  of  human  industries  and 
workers,  in  the  integral  co-operative  city.  Here,  the  questions 
of  education,  of  temperance,  of  woman's  rights,  of  woman 
sufferage,  of  the  rights  of  labor  and  capital,  of  the  land  ques- 
tion, of  the  currency  question  and  even  of  the  race  question,  and 
of  immigration — of  everything,  in  fact,  that  concerns  the  wel- 
fare of  an  integral  co-operative  community — cannot  fail  to  be 
fully  discussed  and  satisfactorily  settled,  as  far  as  such  a  com- 
munity is  concerned.  It  could  not  be  a  co-operative  city,  at 
all,  unless  these  questions  were  thus  satisfactorily  settled  ;  for  its 
very  existence  depends  upon  equitable  arrangements  for  all. 

The  land  question  would  be  settled;  for  as  all  the  land,  the 
thousands  of  acres  surrounding  the  city,  would  be  owned  and 
worked  by  the  citizens — or  by  the  city  management,  and  its 

Eroducts  of  whatever  kind,  whether  from   farm,    from   forest, 
rom  mine  or  from   waters — oe   equally  enjoyed   by   all   who 
needed  them;  then  no  one  would  want  a  farm  for  himself,  nor 
could  he  hire  any  one  to  work  it  for  him,   for  no   one   would 
leave  the  attractions  of  the  city  to  plod  in  the  country. 

The  woman  question  would  be  settled,  for  woman  would 
stand  on  a  perfect  equality  with  man  in  every  respect;  receive 
equal  pay  for  equal  work  ;  cast  her  vote,  and  be  free  as  air  to 
live  her  own  life. 

The  liquor  question  would  be  settled ;  for  the  sale  and  the  use 
of  it  would  be  wholly  under  city  control ;  while  the  high  at- 
tractions of  social  surroundings  would  greatly  lessen  those  of 
liquid  stimulants. 

The  matter  of  education  would  be  settled,  for  all  would  re- 
ceive the  highest  culture  possible. 

The  question  of  capital  and  labor  would  be  settled,  for  the 
relations  of  employer  and  employed  would  exist  no  longer, 
since  the  citizens  are  their  own  capitalists,  and  their  own  em- 


29 

•ployers ;  the  labor  of  each  benefits  all  and  the  labor  of  all 
increases  the  income  of  each,  but  we  cannot  go  into  details. 

All  that  would  be  necessary  to  carry  out  all  these  reforms, 
would  be  to  take  the  present  township  or  county,  and  replace 
its  individual  and  competitive  industries  with  co-operative 
ones.  If  all  the  people  of  such  townships  or  counties  could 
agree  to  put  all  their  farm  lands,  their  mills,  their  factories,  all 
their  machinery  for  production  into  a  joint  stock  company — 
unite  their  interests  and  their  labor  under  a  proper  leadership 
and  organization,  and  build  their  town  to  suit  this  change, 
under  the  conditions  and  methods  like  those  of  the  Topolo- 
bampo  colony — then  this  would  inaugurate  the  higher  civiliza- 
tion— that  whose  basis  everywhere  would  be  and  will  be 
integral  industrial  co-operation. 

Some  movement  of  this  kind,  we  believe,  we  must  take  up 
with,  sooner  or  later;  be  driven  to  it  through  the  resistless  drift 
of  events;  and  these  syndicates  and  trusts — private  corpora- 
tions, with  their  millions,  getting  control  of  everything  which 
all  the  people  of  every  community  want,  and  growing  still 
more  wealthy  at  the  expense  of  the  public — are  starting  the 
question:  "Why  cannot  the  people  of  every  community  pro- 
vide these  necessities  of  life  by  themselves  and  for  themselves, 
and  keep  all  the  wealth  to  themselves,  instead  of  letting  it  all 
go  to  private  persons  or  companies,  to  multiply  millionaires  and 
crowd  the  masses  to  the  wall  ? 

This  question  once  started  and  clearly  put  will  not  long  re- 
main unanswered  ;  and  this  answer  is  found  in  the  integral  co- 
operative city  in  multitudes -established  in  every  state  of  the 
republic. 

And  now,  while  the  Nationalists  are  right  in  their  efforts  to 
Nationalize  the  industries  of  the  country,  and  may  make  a 
beginning  of  this  work,  in  the  way  of  government  control  of 
the  railroads,  telegraphs,  telephones,  etc.,  etc.,  we  think  it  will 
be  found  that  they  cannot  go  far  in  this  direction.  Mere  pol- 
itical supervision  of  industries  has  a  very  narrow  field  unless  it 
becomes  despotic — becomes  that  kind  of  state  socialism  which 
Herbert  Spencer  apprehends  and  against  which  he  warns  the 
English  people  in  his  article  "The  Coming  Slavery,"  written 
some  years  ago.  He  appears  to  think  that  under  "  state  social- 
ism,7' as  it  is  called,  all  industry  will  be  in  charge  and  control 
of  the  government,  through  its  agents,  who  will  allot  to  every 
worker  his  or  her  place,  and  pay  them  at  a  fixed  rate  as  govern- 
ment employes.  This  is  impossible,  unless  the  government  be- 
comes as  said, despotic,  and  even  then  it  would  break  down  under 
the  weight  of  its  self-imposed  and  most  multifarious  duties. 
But  the  "Industrial  Administration,"  which  it  is  the  aim  of  the 
Nationalist  movement  to  bring  about,  is  a  very  different  thing, 
for  it  will  leave  every  pen  on  in  perfect  freedom  to  choose  his 
occupation — in  a  far  greater  freedom  than  most  workmen  enjoy 


30 

now;  and  give  him  also  the  enjoyment  of  a  true  individuality, 
enabling  him  or  her  to  live  out  their  own  life,  more  than  any 
one  can  at  present. 

But  to  effect  this  nationalization  of  industry,  the  National- 
ists appear  to  be  beginning  at  the  top,  i.  e.,  with  present  gov- 
ernment arrangements;  and  thenje  to  work  downward  to  the 
individual  and  the  small  community.  This  plan  we  think  is 
not  feasible,  but  that  this  new  party  of  reform  will  be  in  time 
forced  to  see  that  to  change  our  competitive,  warring  indivi- 
dualism to  national  co-operation,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to 
begin  as  the  plant  and  the  animal  co-operative  organism  begins, 
viz. :  by  successive  aggregations  of  a  primitive  cell,  and  so 
building  upwards,  part  by  part  and  organ  by  organ,  the  entire 
structure,  the  entire  plant  or  animal.  Our  primative  cell  will 
be  the  integral  co-operative  town  or  city  (possibly  the  co-opera- 
tively organized  township  or  county  into  one  or  more  such  cit- 
ies) a  number  of  these  forming  the  co-operative  county,  these 
counties  the  co-operative  state,  these  states  the  Co-operative, 
or  Nationally  Industralized  Nation,  in  which  every  adult,  male 
or  female,  will  be  a  free  worker  in  the  National  Industrial 
Army. 

All  this  will  modify  considerably  our  present  mode  of  doing 
things ;  but  gradually,  peaceably,  yet  most  surely  and  irresist- 
tibly. 

Then,  when  the  establishment  of  these  integral  co-operative 
cities  in  great  numbers  over  the  country  has  thus — and  only 
thus — nationalized  the  country's  industry,  and  when,  therefore, 
of  necessity,  each  such  city  "protects"  itself,  by  giving  steady 
employment  to  all  its  citizens,  as  well  as  an  assured  and  fair 
reward  for  work  done,  and  an  equitable  division  of  all  common 
profits,  supplying  them,  first  and  foremost,  with  all  that  they 
want,  then  a  tariff  will  no  longer  be  needed. 

A  tariff  is  established  to  protect  individuals  and  individual 
companies,  each  working  by  itself  and  in  its  own  way,  inde- 
pendently of  other  individuals  and  companies;  (except  as 
these  compete  with  and  antagonize  each  other  in  the  same 
line  of  business)  is  established  to  protect  home  industries  from 
competition  with  those  of  foreign  countries.  The  necessity 
for  tariffs  arises  solely  from  the  present  system  of  individual- 
istic industry  in  all  civilized  countries.  Each  tries  to  protect 
its  own  industries  from  the  cheaper  industries  and  their  pro- 
ductions of  other  countries ;  but  no  country  can  protect  its  own 
citizens  from  the  most  intense  competition  with  each  other  ; 
where  the  big  fish  swallow  the  little  ones;  the  large  corpora- 
tions and  syndicates  either  absorbing  or  "freezing  out"  all 
similar  competitors,  a  process  which  is  going  on  all  the  time — 
at  the  present  moment  more  than  ever,  until  half  of  the  vast 
wealth  of  the  nation  (60  billions  of  dollars)  is,  as  said,  in  the 
hands  of  2£  per  cent,  of  the  population— now  amounting  to 


31 

more  than  64  millions  of  people.  All  this,  we  say  again,  is  the 
result  of  our  confused,  orderless,  tangled-up  and  false  indiv- 
idualism— the  every-one-for-himself  method. 

But  when  the  industries  of  the  nation  are  carried  on  by  the 
people  of  each  city,  as  a  joint-stock  business  company;  when 
they  own  and  work  their  own  farm  lands,  factories,  etc.,  etc., 
by  themselves,  in  united  co-operative  labors,  fully  supplying 
themselves  first  with  all  that  they  want,  either  of  home  pro- 
ducts or  of  foreign,  by  exchange  of  their  home-made  com- 
modities when  in  surplus ;  when  the  great  hazards  and  anxieties 
of  fierce  competitive  business  have  ceased,  and  full  subsistence 
and  much  more  is  assured  to  everyone  by  a  reasonable  amount 
of  daily  labor.  When  each  city  in  this  rational  manner  protects 
itself  from  the  most  remote  possibility  of  poverty  among  its 
citizens  from  lack  of  employment,  or  of  its  full  and  always 
assured  remuneration ;  then  of  course  the  entire  nation,  being 
composed  of  these  self- protected  co-operative  cities  will  be  also 
self-protected  and  protected  most  thoroughly  and  completely 
at  every  point  and  in  every  respect,  without  any  tariff — tariff, 
which,  let  statesmen  elaborate  as  they  will,  can  never  fully 
protect  or  satisfy  all  individual  competing  industries  in  any 
cbuntry. 

But  this  co-operative  life  alone  can  and  will  do. 

In  place,  however,  of  any  tariff — now  become   useless  and 
absurd — these  co-operative  cities  and  this  co-operative  nation 
will,  on  the  contrary,  want  the  utmost  freedom  to  exchange 
their  surplus  and  different  products  with  each  other,  and  with 
other  nations;  and  further,  the  great  cheapness  of  production   ,' 
in  co-operation  will  ever  place  the  products  of  competitive  and  i 
wages  industry,  wherever  this  (soon  to  become  effete)  may  yet 
linger — at  a  very  great  disadvantage  in  any  such  exchange. 

Tariffs,  as  we  have  already  remarked,  are  based  on  the 
reign  of  a  confused,  disorderly,  self  antagonizing  system  of 
individualism,  and  the  reason  that  there  is  this  interminable 
controversy  between  the  brightest  minds  in  both  hemispheres, 
as  to  whether  protection  or  free  trade  is  best  for  any  nation — 
a  controversy  which  has  lasted  now  during  some  two  or  more 
centuries  and  which  is  as  far  from  being  settled  as  ever,  and 
with  small  prospect  of  its  ever  being  settled  to  the  satisfaction 
of  both  parties— the  reason  of  this  age-long  war  of  arguments 
is  that  political  economy  has  hitherto  and  all  along  taken  the 
reign  of  individualism,  or  the  right  of  every  person  to  seek  a 
living  according  to  his  own  fancy;  the  right  to  strike  out  his 
own  path  towards  fortune,  independent  of  what  others  are 
doing  for  the  same  purpose;  has  regarded  this  go-as-you- 
please,  laissez  faire,  let-me-alone,  everyone-for-himself  system 
of  industry  as  the  great  law  of  nature,  and  especially  of  human 
nature ;  and  has  bent  legislation  as  it  could  to  suit  this  idea. 
But  this  idea  is  a  false  one ;  it  is  a  great  mistake,  but  one  which 


32 

could  not  have  been  avoided  in  ignorance  of  the    true  law  of 
order  in  nature.     This  is  the  very  reverse  of   the  siraplisticr 
individualistic  idea;  is  the  very  reverse  of  this   disorderly  and 
thereforenecessarily  clashing  individualism.  This  law  is  the  law 
of  combination,  association,  and  of  co-operation  in  association. 
This  we  see  everywhere  around  us — in  the  starry  clusters  that 
glow  in  space;  in  the  many  elements  that  combine  and  co-operate 
to  form  a  habitable  globe  and  climate ;  in  the  many  co-operating 
parts  that  unite  to  make  up  plant,  animal  and   human    bodies. 
It  is  only  by  the  union  and  co-opeartion  in  union  of  many  and 
different  parts  that  in  all  these  cases  it  is  possible   to    evolve 
important  common  results  and  the  grandeur  of  such  results  is 
proportioned  both  to  the  number  and  to  the   high    nature   or 
function  of  the  parts,  of  which  an  illustration  is  given  in  com- 
paring the  music  or  a  grand  orchestra  with  that  of  but  two  or 
three  instruments  only;    or  that  from  the   keys   of    a  single 
octave  compared  with  the  endlessly  varied  harmony  that  can  be 
evolved  from  seven  octaves.      Our  growth  and  strength  as  a 
nation  has  arisen   from  the   union   and   co-operation  of    the 
various  states  in  political  matters  under  a  national  government^ 
and  it  was  only  by  the  united  action   of   the   northern   states 
that  they  were  strong  enough  to  crush  the  insane   secession 
movement  of  the  south  and  preserve  the  union.     It  now  only 
remains  for  us  to  carry  this  same  principle  of  combination  and 
of  co-operation  in  association   that  has  wrought   such   great 
results   for   us   in   the   political  sphere,  a   step    further  and 
give  it  free  play  in   the  industrial  sphere  by  the  people 
of  each  township,  county  and  state  uniting  their  interests  and 
labors  in  many  integral  co  operative  towns  and  cities,  mingling 
town  and  country  by  the  extensive  farmlands  of  each,  touching 
those  of  its  neighbors,  the  citizens  of  each  making  and  supply- 
ing themselves  first  with  all  that  human  beings  should  have  to 
live  aright,  and  freely  exchanging  their   surplus   products  for 
different  surplus  of  other  cities. 

Then,  as  each  of  these  cities  will  be  a  true  and  complete 
miniature  republic  in  itself,  a  miniature  embodiment  of  a  com- 
monwealth, shared  equitably  by  all  and  dispersing  comfort 
among  all,  then  of  course  the  whole  nation,  being  made  up  of 
these  small  republics,  must  be  also — or  will  be,  also — a  com- 
plete republic,  enabling  every  citizen,  with  the  co-operation  of 
all  the  others,  to  supply  himself  or  herself  with  every  thing  that 
any  person  can  possibly  want  or  use. 

For  our  republic  is  as  yet  a  very  incomplete  one.  It  is  a 
splendid  building,  a  "triumphant  democracy,"  sheltering 
its  more  than  64  millions  of  people  through  its  political  union 
of  states  under  a  national  government  from  the  constant  appre- 
hension and  the  dangers  of  civil  war  between  those  states, 
while  those  of  Europe  in  the  absence  of  such  union  among 
themselves  are  kept  all  the  time  not  only  in  most  uncomfor- 


33 

tably  hot  water,  but  are  crushed  under  the  weight  of  their  sev-  j 
eral  standing  armies  of  millions  of  idle  soldiers  and  the  taxes  \ 
needed  to  support  them. 

But  while  we  thus  enjoy  POLITICAL  freedom  through  POLIT- 
ICAL union  and  co-operation,  we  are  yet,  and  always  have  been, 
in  a  perpetual  INDUSTRIAL  warfare,  through  individualism  and 
its  inseparable  competitive  and  Tvages  system.  We  are  as  yet 
exposed  to  the  pitiless  storms  of  a  hap-hazard,  happy-go-lucky, 
orderhss,  loud  clashing  industrial  life.  Mere  political  'action 
has  gone  as  far  as  it  can.  It  has  given  us  all  the  freedom  in 
its  power,  but  this  very  freedom,  under  individualism — every- 
one for  himself — is  the  very  source  of  our  industrial  troubles, 
and  it  is  useless  to  try  to  remedy  these  troubles  and  all  thai 
grows  out  of  them  by  enacting  20,000  laws  per  annum,  as  is 
said  to  be  done  by  congress  and  the  two  score  states  and  terri- 
tories. And  it  may  be  asked,  "  where  is  law-making  going  to 
stop,  under  this  individualism,  since  it  breeds  new  complica- 
tions every  day  ? " 

We  simply  MUST  have  INDUSTRIAL  union  and  co-operation 
and  organization  as  we  have  had  and  enjoy  POLITICAL  union 
and  co-operation  and  organization.  This  is  the  next  step  the 
republic  must  take ;  then  there  will  be  INDUSTRIAL  peace,  as 
there  is  now,  so  to  call  it,  POLITICAL  peace.  It  is  political 
peace  so  far  as  a  desperate  warfare  is  waged  with  ballots  in- 
stead of  bullets.  But  this  political  turmoil  exists  and  exists 
all  the  time,  with  varying  intensity,  because  political  interests 
arise  from  and  are  based  upon  the  underlying  and  everywhere 
present  BED-ROCK  of  industrial  interests.  Harmonize  these  .by 
union  and  co-operation,  and  peace  will  reign  among  all  higher 
human  affairs. 

And  we  may  say  that  the  reason  the  republic  does  not  do 
more — that  it  does  not  do  for  its  citizens  EVERY  thing  that  is 
involved  in  the  idea  of  a  true  republic — is,  that  this  temple  of 
Freedom — the  grandest  even  in  its  unfinished  condition  that 
the  world  has  ever  seen — the  reason  is,  we  would  say  that  it  is 
not  yet  roofed  in.  But  establish  co-operative  cities  every- 
where, municipalize  all  industry,  and  this  will  roof  over  this 
temple  of  republicanism;  put  on  capstone  and  turret,  and  pre- 
sent to  the  world  a  finished  edifice— a  complete  republic— for 
it  is  not  complete  as  long  as  its  great  lack1  of  a  proper  organi- 
zation of  its  industries  in  harmony  with  universal  law,  permits 
of  such  a  rapidly  widening  gulf  between  enormous  wealth  on 
one  side,  and  a  poverty  and  squalor  deeper  and  blacker  than 
that  of  a  savage  life,  on  the  other;  together  with  the  long  list 
of  daily  deeds  of  wrong  and  violence  Before  enumerated — all 
having  their  source  in  this  false  and  cruel  individualism. 

We  charge  these  growing  evils  to  individualism  because 
through  the  increase  of  population,  the  great  daily  displace- 
ment of  human  labor  by  the  use  of  new  invention,  new  ma- 


34 

chinery  of  all  kinds  in  every  branch  of  industry — through  the 
growing  absortion  or  freezing  out  ofc  small  operators  and  busi- 
ness concerns  of  all  kinds,  in  farming,  in  manufacture,  in  ex- 
change, absortion  of  these  small  affairs  by  these  multiplying 
syndicates  and  trusts,  in  all  directions,  getting  control  of  every- 
thing needed  by  the  public  through  all  these  causes  (individ- 
ualism rampant).  Competition  and  the  struggle  for  bread 
among  the  masses  is  becoming  every  day  more  and  more  intense 
and  fierce,  because  of  this  everyone-for-himself  method.  Then 
further,  this  increasing  difficulty  and  uncertainty  of  providing 
for  one's  self  and  family  by  individual,  isolated  exertion  works 
evil  in  two  directions.  It  tends  to  repress  the  free  outflow  of 
the  benevolent  social  impulses  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the 
other  it  allows  little  or  no  leisure  or  inclination  in  those  en- 
gaged in  this  breathless  struggle  with  others,  for  the  means  of 
life — to  listen  to  the  voice  of  higher  influences,  that  would  el- 
evate and  spiritualize  the  character,  could  they  find  welcome 
entrance  and  lodgement.  This  intense  rush  and  excitement 
and  anxiety  and  fear  of  losing  ground  and  being  trod  under 
foot,  in  this  race  for  bread,  renders  or  tends  greatly  to  render 
the  public  mind,  in  reference  to  religion,  truth,  or  teaching, 
like  the  ground  in  the  parable — too  thickly  covered  with  stones 
and  briars  to  allow  of  the  seed  sown  to  take  root  and  grow. 

But  now,  if,  in  spite  of  this  counteracting  influence  of  this 
individualism,  civilization  continues  to  advance,  and  to  show 
as  is  the  case,  that  the  humanitary  sentiments  of  the  race  in 
both  hemispheres  were  never  more  active  than  now;  going 
forth  in  ever  multiplying  modes  for  the  relef  of  human  suffer- 
ing and  ignorance,  and  mounting  even  to  the  hitherto  unat- 
tained  height  of  conceiving  and  planning  and  fixing  a  date  for 
a  convention  to  form  a  World's  Arbitration  League,  to  abolish 
inter-national  wars — if,  under  the  as  yet  hardly  disturbed  reign 
of  our  selfish  individualism,  these  things  are  done — how  much 
more  would  the  sentiment  of  human  brotherhood  glow  with 
life  and  warmth,  if  this  present  necessity  for  providing  and 
caring  for  one's  self  (through  want  of  united  interests  and  la- 
bors) no  longer  existed,  but  was  replaced  by  co-operation;  by 
an  organization  and  harmonious  reconciling  of  interests  and 
industries  among  men,  that  would  make  the  walfare  of  each 
indispensable  to  the  welfare  of  all,  and  that  of  all  inseparable 
from  that  of  eachl  This  is  the  law  of  order  and  harmony  and 
health  and  strength  in  the  animal  and  the  human  individual 
body,  and  when  this  is  also  carried  out  in  collective  bodies  of 
men,  women  and  children,  as  it  must  be  and  as  it  will  be,  and 
as  is  now  carried  out  at  the  late  M.  Godin's  "Familistere,"  or 
"Social  Palace,"  at  Guise,  France;  at  the  colony  of  Topolo- 
bampo  and  some  others — then  we  shall  come  under  the  reign 
of  industrial  peace,  which  is  now  fast  approaching. 

For  the  world  is,    as  said,  most  assuredly  coming  under 


35 

more  humane  influences,  civilization  and  refinement  of  thought 
and  feeling  abound  more  than  in  even  recent  ages,  and  it  is 
this  very  advance  that  is  showing  men  the  iniquity  of  age-long 
customs  (black  slavery,  for  instance,  and  now  wage  slavery  and 
plutocracy)  and  causing  this  wide-spread  (world-wide)  labor 
agitation ;  arousing  with  no  gentle  shakings, the  hitherto  dormant 
public  conscience  to  put  away  old  time  abuses,  and  introduce 
the  reign  of  universal  EQUITY,  giving  every  man,  woman  and 
child  all  that  is  their  due  in  order  to  live  the  fullest  life  it  is 
given  them  to  live. 

The  coming  integral  co-operative  life,  or  the  u  municipliza- 
tion  of  industry,"  will  settle  the  negro  question  and  the  Chinese 
and  immigration  questions.  As  industry  will  no  longer  be 
competitive  any. where,  which  forces  individuals  to  contend 
and  compete  with  each  other  for  the  "  privilage"  of  working 
for  a  pittance  through  long  hours,  for  other  individuals,  or 
soulless  corporations,  then  under  the  rational  and  humane  ar- 
rangements of  co-operation,  the  negroes  will  establish  their 
own  co-operation  towns  and  cities,  the  Chinese  theirs  (each 
naturally  choosing  to  live  with  those  of  their  own  race)  while 
the  emigrants  from  the  various  European  nations,  if  some  of 
them  cannot  well  be  absorbed  into  American  society,  these 
will  also  form  their  own  co-operative  bodies,  and  all  will  live 
peacably  under  our  one  republican  government,  or  "industrial 
administration,"  especially  as  each  and  every  co-operative 
community  smaller  or  largely  will  be  itself  a  true  republic  ia 
miniature,  since  equity  and  fair  dealing  and  united  and  har- 
monized interests  and  labors  will  present  no  occasion  or  oppor- 
tunity for  industrial  contention.  The  negro,  as  well  as  the 
Chinaman  and  other  foreigners,  under  such  truly  civilized  con- 
ditions will  in  time  be  educated  up  to  the  requirements  of  uni- 
ted life,  and  our  republic  will  not  only  be  an  "  E  Pluribus 
Unwn,"  a  "  one  out  of  many,"  but  it  will  be  a  one — a  grand 
unit,  composed  of  a  great  variety  of  human  characters  and 
aptitudes.  For  variety  in  unity  is  the  source  of  all  harmony 
in  uuity,  as  we  see  is  the  case  in  all  departments  of  the  uni- 
verse, where,  as  the  poet  says,  "All  nature's  difference  makes 
all  nature's  peace." 

Again,  by  united  interests  and  co-operative  labor,  it  is  easi- 
ly shown,  and  has  been  shown  that  vast  economics  must  and 
will  arise — great  saving  of  labor,  of  materials  and  of  time — as 
compared  with  the  inevitable  and  enormous  waste  of  all  these, 
in  competitive  warfare.  The  consequence  of  such  saving  in  all 
directions,  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  greatly  increased  facilities 
of  all  kinds,  for  production  and  for  distribution  of  products,  on 
the  other,  will  be  that  the  territory  of  the  United  States,  of 
some  three  millions  of  square  miles  of  habitable  land  only, 
could  support  to  the  square  mile,  and  support  in  full  comfort, 
as  many  people  as  Belgium,  the  most  densely  populated  coun- 


try  in  Europe,  supports  in  great  discomfort,  and  that  is  borne, 
500  persons — which,  for  the  whole  United  States  territory, 
would  be  1500  millions  of  people,  more  than  the  present  esti- 
mated population  of  the  whole  globe !  This  would  be  an  utter 
impossibility  under  our  present  method  of  universal  free  scram- 
ble and  grab  all  you  can — legally, 

The  methods  of  this  integral  co-operative  life,  as  briefly 
outlined  in  this  article,  are  now  for  the  first  time  in  the  world's 
history  beginning  to  be  carried  out  on  a  very  comprehensive 
and  very  carefully  worked  out  plan,  by  the  colonists  at  Topo- 
lobampo,  in  Mexico.  This  movement  is  in  line  with  that  des- 
cribed by  Mr.  Edward  Bellamy,  in  his  charming  work,  "  Look- 
ing Backward,"  but  it  was  conceived,  deliberately  and  most 
thoughtfully  planned  in  great  detail,  and  the  site  of  the  com- 
ing city  secured  years  before  that  book  appeared.  This  mag- 
nificent and  far-reaching  scheme  for  a  rational  and  co-oper- 
ative life  for  human  beings  had  its  origin  in  the  genius 
of  a  Pennsylvanian,  Mr.  Albert  K.  Owen,  of  Chester,  a 
civil  engineer,  who  has  traveled  extensively  in  both  hemis- 
pheres, has  been  long  engaged  in  railroad  surveys  and  enter- 
prises, both  in  the  United  States  and  in  Mexico,  being  well 
known  in  the  capitals  of  both  countries,  and  is  now  absorbed 
in  promoting  the  interests  of  this  colony — this  first  city  of  a  new 
civilization,  where  suicidal  competition  is  replaced  by 
humane  co-operation  of  men  and  woman  in  all  labors  required 
to  obtain  the  amplest  means  for  a  refined,  well  educated  and 
harmoniously  developed  human  life — for  all. 

And  let  it  be  remembered  that  this  colony  is  not  commu- 
nistic. What  a  person  earns  is  his  or  her  own,  and  personal 
property  and  private  rights  are  sacredly  respected. 

For  further  information,  the  reader  is  referred  to  the 
numerous  publications  of  The  Credit  Foncier  Company,  whose 
office  and  headquarters  are  at  No.  32,  Nassau  St.,  New  York 
City,  where  all  inquiries  will  be  cheerfully  answered. 

Sewickley,  Alleghany  County,  Pa., 
March,  1890. 


THE  CAUSES  OF  POVERTY. 

The  causes  of  poverty  and  of  our  continuous  labor  troubles 
are  at  present  being  widely  discussed.  Quite  a  number 
are  given  here  and  there,  in  the  papers  of  the  day,  but  they 
seem  to  fall  short  of  the  bottom  cause — the  parent  of  all  the 
others.  The  great  tap-root  of  the  luxuriant  evil  growths  ap- 
pears to  be  invisible  to  most  writers  on  the  subject,  and  the 
following  view  is  submitted  to  the  consideration  of  the  reader : 

"  Order  is  Heaven's  first  law."  This  is  a  truth  often  quoted . 


37 

The  universe  is  governed  by  the  ceaseless  operation  of  law, 
and  when  any  of  these  natural  laws  are  violated  by  sentient 
beings  more  or  less  suffering  is  the  inevitable  consequence.  If 
a  person  abuses  his  stomach  he  is  punished  by  dyspepsia.  If 
he  is  exposed  long  enough  to  cold  and  damp,  he  reaps  rheum- 
atism or  pneumonia  or  some  other  trouble.  The  gourmand 
and  wine  bibber  -will  have  his  twinges  of  gout,  etc.,  etc.  In 
all  these  cases  the  laws  of  bodily  health  have  been  broken  and 
the  penalty  follows,  and  there  is  no  puzzle  about  it. 

Now  poverty  and  these  labor  troubles  arise  from  precisely 
alike  cause,  viz.,  the  violation  of  natural  law  by  men  collect- 
ively. All  nations,  especially  civilized  ones,  have  all  along 
through  the  ages  and  up  to  the  present  moment,  been  flying 
right  in  the  face  of  the  great  law  of  universal  order,  that  is  the 
source  of  nature's  harmony  in  all  her  kingdoms.  This  is  the 
law  of  combination  or  association,  and  of  co-operation  in  asso- 
ciation, of  many  very  different  parts,  each  contributing  its  own 
function  or  product,  to  bring  about  a  common  result.  This 
law  of  co-operation  is  seen  at  work  everywhere.  It  is  seen  in 
the  starry  clusters,  in  the  solar  systems;  in  the  co-operation  of 
forces  and  elements  that  thus  only  render  a  globe  habitable; 
in  the  harmonic  forms  of  crystalization ;  in  the  co-operation  of 
the  diversified  organs  of  a  plant,  of  an  animal  and  of  the 
human  body,  to  effect  important  results  impossible  without 
such  co-operation.  Under  the  controlling  influence  of  the  life 
force  all  the  organs  of  the  human  being  co-operate  to  sustain 
and  manifest  the  conditions  of  life,  each  contributing  its  own 
labor  or  product,  and  thus  the  person  enjoys  health  and  power 
to  act. 

Passing  now  from  the  co-operation  of  the  many  organs 
which  sustain  the  life  of  the  individual,  the  next  higher  step  is 
the  co  operation  of  the  individual  members  of  the  family  cir- 
cle. Here  each  works  for  all  and  all  for  each — the  father  in 
farm  or  shop;  the  mother  in  the  household,  the  boys  help  the 
father,  the  ctfrls  the  mother — until,  the  children  being  grown, 
they  go  forth  to  raise  families  for  themselves. 

Now  what  is  the  next  natural  step  under  the.  law  of  har- 
monic co-operation  and  united  and  common  interests  and 
labors  ?  Evidently  it  is  the  union  of  interests  and  labors,  or 
co-operation  among  each  other  of  a  number  of  families 
forming  the  co-operative  town  or  city,  with  all  the  land,  the 
buildings,  the  tools,  the  machinery  and  the  other  appliances 
needed  to  furnish  them  by  their  united  labors,  with  every 
necessary  of  life.  In  all  the  progress  made  by  our  civilization, 
however,  we  have  never  yet,  with  a  few  exceptions,  reached 
this  higher  step  of  co-operative  life,  owing  to  causes  which 
need  not  here  be  enumerated.  It  is  simply  the  fact  that  when 
we  leave  the  family — the  true  family  circle  where  mutual  love 
and  helpfulness  reigns  under  this  law  of  universal  order  or 


38 

co-operation — that  we  at  once  turn  our  backs  upon  this  great 
law,  and  plunge  headlong  into  fan  intense  and  false  individ- 
ualism, where  every  one  goes  his  own  way,  in  quest  of  the 
means  of  life.  And  where  a  multitude  do  this,  each  follow- 
ing his  own  fancy,  is  it  not  plain  that  there  must  unavoidably 
be  a  perpetual  crossing  of  each  other's  paths,  and  collision, 
contention,  scramble  and  struggle  for  the  right  of  way  and  for 
access  to  the  means  of  wealth  ?  In  such  a  free  fight  for  all, 
of  course  the  strong  in  purse,  pluck  and  push  thrust  aside  the 
weaker,  and  secure  the  largest  share  of  good  things,  while  the 
masses  must  fare  as  they  can  and  do  with  less  and  lesSj  down 
to  the  absolute  pauper.  Man  is  driven  to  associate  with  his 
fellows,  both  by  his  social  impulses  and  by  his  need  of  others 
to  help  him  to  live,  by  exchange  of  services  or  products  of 
labor.  But  when  men  come  together  in  communities — whether 
crowded  into  cities  or  settled  upon  farms  is  it  not  as  plain  as 
possible  that  if  there  is  no  union  of  interests,  no  co-operation, 
no  orderly  union  or  organization  of  their  many  and  diverse  in- 
dustries, no  working  together  for  a  common  end,  viz.,  the  en- 
richment of  all  by  the  labors  of  all,  if,  in  fine  there  is  no  inter- 
nal harmony  among  them  and  their  pursuits,  but  each  person 
and  each  company  and  firm  pursues  its  own  course,  contending 
and  competing  with  others,  and  ever  in  the  effort  to  get  ahead 
of  all  competitors — that  this  is  a  confusion  worse  confounded, 
and  that  as  the  internal  order  of  a  co-operative  life  is  absent 
— an  external  order  must  be  preserved  by  force,  by  rigid  laws, 
by  magistrates,  by  police,  by  courts  to  settle  endless  disputes,  as 
to  private  rights  and  wrongs,  and  safe  prisons  for  offenders  ? 
Who  can  fail  to  see  this  ? 

This  universal  confusion  of  industrial  and  business  life — 
this  everyone-for-himself  and  the  "  devil  take  the  hindmost" — 
pursuit  of  wealth — this  following  as  the  rule  of  business  life, 
the  unspoken  motto. 

"  He  muBt  get  who  has  the  power, 
And  he  must  keep  who  can/' 

This  has  brought  our  republic,  at  the  close  of  the  first  cen- 
tury of  its  existence,  to  a  condition  which  is  now  causing  great 
alarm  to  those  who  are  at  the;pains  to  look  at  the  facts. 

Here  are  a  very  few  only :  The  enormous  wealth  of  the  coun- 
try— 60,000,000,000  of  dollars,  equal  to  $1,000  for  each  person 
of  over  sixty  millions  of  population — is  so  piled  up  on  one  side 
that  2£  per  cent,  of  this  population  own  one-half  of  this 
wealth,  or  thirty  billions,  and  this  startling  concentration  of 
wealth  in  the  hands  of  a  few  thousand  persons  has  been  going 
on  rapidly  for  the  last  thirty  years,  and  continues  at  that  rate ; 
so  that  it  is  estimated  that  in  thirty  years  more  the  entire 
wealth  of  the  country  will  be  in  the  hands  of  a  very  small  frac- 
tion of  it,  and  the  nearly  sixty  millions  of  others  will  live  at 


39 

the  sufferance  of  the  few  thousand.  (See  the  article  in  the 
Forum  for  September  and  October,  1889,  by  Mr.  Thomas  G. 
Shearman.) 

Next,  this  business  confusion  results  in  between  200  and 
300  failures  each  week  iu  the  United  States,  or  12,000  a  year, 
or  60,000  persons  obliged  each  year  to  try  the  world  over  again. 
Next,  in  this  false  individualistic  system  it  is  impossible 
for  all  those  who  want  employment  to  find  it.  A  million  of 
persons  or  more  are  said  to  be  in  search  of  it  all  the  time,  and 
100,000  in  New  York  alone,  in  winter,  according  to  the  World? 8 
statement,  in  the  Sunday  issue  of  March  16,  1890. 

Next,  it  is  impossible  that  all  children  at  all  times  and  in 
all  places  can  be  given  the  constant,  watchful  care  and  train- 
ing in  virtuous  and  industrious  habits  up  to  puberty,  which  they 
need  as  much  as  food  and  clothing,  to  grow  up  noble  men  and 
woman.  Hence,  our  cities  abound  in  idlers  and  incapables,  as 
well  as  in  young  roughs  and  gangs  of  thieving  boys,  who  grow 
up  as  drunkards,  tramps,  criminals — insane,  fill  our  prisons  and 
asylums,  and  load  the  public  with  taxes  for  the  cost  of  their 
trial  and  support  while  in  confinement. 

Then  in  this  free  fight  for  all  the  opportunities  and  facilities 
for  wealth- getting  are  seized  by  those  who  have  the  power  and 
skill  to  do  so.  The  land,  the  mines,  the  machinery,  the  mills, 
the  factories,  the  street  car  lines,  telegraph,  telephone,  electric 
light  plants  and  the  control  of  all  the  necessaries  of  life  are 
being  bought  up  by  multiplying  syndicates  and  trusts,  who 
swell  their  millions  at  the  expense  of  the  wage-workers,  as  well 
as  of  the  people  who  must  use  or  purchase  these  things  at  great- 
ly increased  prices. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  bottom  cause  of  poverty — 
of  the  great  and  appalling  contrasts  of  condition  between  peo- 
ple of  the  same  locality,  and  of  the  daily  widening  gulf  be- 
tween the  rich  and  the  poor — is  our  orderless  individualism 
in  industry,  which  is  simply  a  universal  and  collective  defiance 
by  men  of  the  natural  law  of  harmonic  association  everywhere 
— viz. ;  of  association  in  co-operation,  or  with  co-operation 
among  many  dissimilar  parts  and  powers,  to  produce  a  com- 
mon result — the  defiance  of  a  law  of  order,  which  springs  from 
and  reflects  the  harmony  of  the  Divine  nature  itself — there  can 
be,  we  say,  no  more  doubt  that  poverty  has  its  roots  in  the  vio- 
lation of  this  great  law  than  we  can  doubt  that  the  sun  shines 
or  the  globe  revolves.  From  such  violation  what  can  civilized 
nntions  expect  but  that  in  time  it  should  result  in  just  these  in- 
dustrial troubles  and  the  wide-spread  poverty  and  unrest  and 
agitation  that  we  have  lived  to  witness.  But  these  are  the  fore- 
runners of  great  change  for  the  better. 

This  tangled  up,  false  individualism  (the  only  true  indivi- 
dualism will  be  found  in  co-operation,  which  will  enable  each 
to  live  his  own  life  )  is  the  bottom  cause,  the  parent  cause  of 


40 

all  the  superficial  causes  given  by  correspondents  in  the  Sun- 
day World  of  March  16th,  viz:  ignorance,  drunkedness,  idle 
habits,  incapacity,  want  of  land  and  its  natural  opportunities, 
want  of  thrift,  bad  legislation,  wretched  marriages,  want  of 
money,  unequal  distribution  of  wealth,  usury  (see  the  respec- 
tive letters).  All  of  these  are  themselves  only  the  natural  out- 
births — the  children  of  our  struggling  competing  individual- 
ism, giving  the  strong  and  lucky  all  the  prizes. 

But  when  people  unite  their  interests  and  labors  in  com- 
munities (not  communistic  communities)  or  cities  of  some 
thousands  each,  and  each  as  a  joint  stock  company,  conducts 
all  its  industries  under  the  single  management  of  a  chosen 
directorship,  utilizing  its  surrounding  lands,  which  it  will  at 
first  own,  and  in  the  near  future  lease  from  the  state  or  the 
national  government  (the  cation  having  become  sole  owner  of 
all  its  land)  and  not  only  by  farming,  but  by  manufactures  of 
all  kinds  supplying  its  own  citizens*  first  and  foremost  with  what 
they  all  want  and  exchanging  its  surplus  for  different  surplus 
of  other  co-operative  cities;  and  when  these  cities  unite  in  each 
state  and  the  co-operative  states  are  linked  together  indus- 
triously under  a  national  industrial  administration  and  all 
industry  has  thus  become  nationalized,  as  it  is  sure  to  be  in  the 
near  future,  and  our  republic  has  also  in  this  way  become  a  full, 
true  and  complete  republic  (it  is  only  partially  one  now)  as 
compared  of  these  numerous  co-operative  cities,  each  of 
necessity,  a  republic  in  miniature — then  each  person  cannot  fail 
to  have  enough  of  what  he  needs  and  poverty  will  be  abol- 
ished, as  it  is  abolished  now,  at  the  present  nioment  in  sever- 
al localities.  Then,  too,  children  will  be  fully  educated  and 
properly  trained;  no  adult,  male  or  female,  will  ever  lack  em- 
ployment and  its  full  reward ;  woman  will  be  the  perfect  social 
equal  of  man  in  every  respect;  will  be  free  as  air  to  live  her 
own  life ;  marriage  will  cease  to  be  mercenary,  but  solely  the 
outcome  of  mutual  attachment;  and  under  these  rational 
conditions  of  human  life,  and  through  heredity,  a  new  race  of 
men  and  women  will  arise,  and  reveal  to  an  astonished  world 
the  marvelous  capacities  inherent  in  the  nature  of  man;  for 
in  our  present  semi-civilization  it  is  the  selfish  part  of  that 
human  nature  that  is  constantly  appealed  to  and  spurred  into 
ceaseless  and  abnormal  activity  by  our  daily  and  hourly  sur- 
roundings. 

All  this  is  NOT  Utopian.  It  is  now  and  has  been  in  practical 
embodiment  at  the  "Familistere"  of  the  late  lamented  M. 
Godin,  at  Guise,  France,  some  100  miles  north  of  Paris,  for  25 
years.  Here,  poverty  is  banished — has  been  for  the  above 
period.  Here  some  2,000  people,  workmen  with  their  families, 
live  in  comfort  and  peace.  They  occupy  splendid  buildings 
and  are  showing  in  a  most  striking  manner  the  actual  results 
of  co-operative  life,  and  are  showing,  too,  that  for  anyone  to 


41 

believe  and  teach  that  poverty  must  always  be  the  lot  of  the 
masses,  is  to  ignorantly  or  obstinately  fly  in  the  face  of  estab- 
lished and  present  facts  to  the  contrary. 

Another  enterprise  having  the  same  great  end  in  view,  but 
on  a  more  comprehensive  scale,  and  which  is  in  the  line  of  Mr. 
Bellamy's  "  Looking  Backward,"  though  conceived  and  inaug- 
urated years  before  that  charming  book  appeared,  is  the  integral 
co-operative  colony  on  the  harbor  of  Topolobampo,  on  the  Gulf 
of  California,  State  of  Sinaloa,  Mexico.  Its  projector  is  Mr. 
A.  K.  Owen,  of  Chester,  Pa.,  and  it  is  now  in  its  fourth  year  of 
successful  operation.  It  is  carried  on  by  "The  Credit  Foncier 
Company,"  whose  office  is  at  No.  32  Nassau  street,  New 
York  City,  where  its  many  publications  on  co-operation 
may  be  had  and  all  inquiries  answered. 

Sewickley,  Pa., 
March  20th,  1890. 

— From  "27ie  Jeffersonian"  Topeka,  Kansas. 


SOCIALISM  IN  A  NUTSHELL; 

OR, 

THE  SO-CALLED  LABOR  PROBLEM  NOT  A  PROBLEM. 
BY  W.  H.  MULLER,  M.  D. 


Br  socialism  we  do  not  mean  the  socialism  that  is  not 
socialism,  but  its  very  opposite ;  that  is  not  socialism  but 
disruption  ;  that  preaches  the  gospel  of  dynamite,  anar- 
chism and  violent  overthrow  of  all  existing-  institutions  ; 
that  proposes  and  endeavors  to  destroy  these  first,  and  then 
wildly  dreams  of  buildihg  up  something — it  confesses  it 
knows  not  what — but  something  at  all  events,  on  the  ruins 
it  has  made.  This  socialism,  so  to  mis-call  it,  is  parallelled 
only  by  the  delirious  ravings  of  a  far  gone  fever  patient,  or 
a  confirmed  lunatic. 

But  the  socialism  we  are  now  considering  is  most  truly 
all  that  its  name  implies,  viz.,  the  socialism  that  seeks  to 
draw  close  and  closer  the  bonds  of  human  brotherhood,  so 
that  by  united  co-operative  labors  among  the  members  of 
every  community,  the  overflowing  means  of  wealth  with 
which  our  planet  teems,  shall  be  gathered  with  compara- 
tive ease,  and  no  one  who  is  reasonably  industrious  and 
helpful  shall  ever  after  lack  either  the  necessaries  or  the 
luxuries  of  life,  or  the  very  best  means  and  facilities  for  the 
highest  culture  of  his  or  her  entire  nature. 

We  mean  that  this  whole  subject,  whether  called  social- 
ism or  the  labor  problem,  involving  the  cause  and  cure  of 
these  world-wide  labor  troubles — is  in  a  certain  sense,  com- 
prised in  a  nutshell,  or  that  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  whole 
field,  may  be  given  by  a  brief  statement  of  a  few  all  impor- 
tant and  very  prominent  facts. 

We  say  "  the  so-called  "  labor  problem,  for  the  reason 
that  its  cause  is  not  hard  to  find,  and  that  when  this  very 
evident  cause  is  seen  clearly,  the  remedy  cannot  fail  to  be 
also  just  as  clearly  revealed  ;  and  then,  when  thus  seen, 
there  should  be  neither  difficulty  or  hesitation  or  delay  in 
at  once  applying  that  remedy.  But  why  is  the  term  ' '  prob- 
lem "  applied  to  these  industrial  agitations  ?  Would  any 
one  apply  this  word  to  the  condition  of  a  person  who  has 
abused  his  stomach  and  suffers  therefore  the  pains  and 
penalties  of  dyspepsia  ?  Or  would  we  call  it  a  mysterious 
problem,  when  a  person  by  exposure  to  cold  and  wet  has 


43 

an  attack  of  rheumatism,  or  lung  trouble  or  bowel  disorder, 
etc.?  Of  course  not.  In  all  such  cases  of  bodily  disease, 
we  know  very  well  that  the  laws  of  bodily  health  have  been 
disobeyed,  and  that  the  penalty  must  follow  surely  and 
certainly,  and  be  proportioned  to  the  extent  of  such  vio- 
lation of  the  conditions  of  health,  and  further,  that  the  ob- 
ject, or  purpose  and  design  of  the  pain  and  sickness  which 
follows,  is  to  deter  the  sufferer  from  persisting  in  such  in- 
fraction of  salutary  law,  and  from  repeating  it  in  case  he 
recovers. 

Now  these  world-wide  labor  troubles  are  simply  nothing- 
more  than  a  similar  instance  on  a  vast  scale,  of  the  vio- 
lation of  the  law  of  heal  thy  ^collective  human  life— nothing 
else  but  the  violation  of  the  "great  law  that  should  govern 
the  health  of  the  great  body  of  humanity,  composed  of  in- 
dividuals, states  and  nations,  all  linked  together  by  a  com- 
munity oi'  nature  (human  nature)  yet  a  nature  comprising 
capacities  which  are  endlessly  diversJied  in  their  strength 
and  capacity,  and  designed  by  this  very  diversity  to  become 
the  complements  of  each  other,  and  so  to  work  together  in 
industrial  unison,  like  the  organs  of  the  individual  human 
body. 

The  cause  of  these  labor  troubles,  we  say,  is  nothing  less 
or  more  than  the  violation  by  mankind — especially  by  so- 
called  civilized  nations,  who  with  all  their  progress  in  the 
arts  and  sciences,  have  not  yet  learned  how  to  order  aright 
their  collective  activities — nothing  more  than  their  violation 
of  the  great  law  which  everywhere  in  the  universe  pre- 
serves order  and  harmony  and  healthy  action  among  a 
multitude  of  diverse  natures  and  forces.  It  is  a  law,  or 
rather  the  operations  of  this  law,  which  stare  us  in  the  face 
to  whatever  side  of  creation  we  turn,  but  which  men  do  not 
perceive  because  their  attention  is  so  absorbed  by  the  daily, 
urgent  needs  of  their  individual  lives,  that  this  great  law 
by  which  an  harmonious,  collective  activity  of  human  be- 
ings may  be  evolved,  is  as  yet  undreamed  of  by  the  mas- 
ses. 

But  as  said,  this  law  is  operative  everywhere,  in  mineral, 
plant,  animal  and  human  kingdoms;  and  it  is  impossible  not 
to  see  it,  even  on  the  first  mere  mention  and  statement  of  it. 

Evidently  it  is  the  law  of  combination,  of  association,  of  co- 
operation among  many  different  parts,  in  order  to  bring  about 
a  common  result.  It  is  the  very  opposite  of  mere  individual- 
ism, when  by  this  is  meant  the  individual  activity  of  part*, 
irrespective  of  what  is  done  by  the  other  parts  of  such  a  sup- 
posed impossible  oiganism,  (for  this  individualism  implies  an 
absence  of  organization).  But  this  law  of  co-operation  per- 
fectly coincides  with  and  promotes  and  is  utterly  indispensible 
to  the  true  and  healthy  individual  action  of  each  part,  when 


44 

such  part  is  in  its  proper  place  in  reference  or  relation  to  the 
other  parts  composing  the  compound  organism. 

Thus  in  the  mineral  kingdom  we  see  that  the  beauty  of  form 
in  the  crystal,  say  a  snow-flake,  is  enchanced  just  in  proportion 
to  the  number  and  variety  of  the  smaller  ice  crystals  that  unite 
to  make  up  the  circular,  radiating,  branching  whole — each  lit- 
tle ice  spicula  increasing  that  beauty  by  its  own  peculiar  form 
and  location. 

The  same  is  true  of  the  plant.  What  or  where  would  it  be 
were  it  not  for  the  variety  of  parts  of  which  it  is  composed, 
each  serving  a  different  use.  As  we  rise  from  the  simplest 
forms  of  vegetable  life,  higher  results  are  attained  only  by  the 
multiplication  and  increasing  diversity  of  parts,  and  these 
grouped  into  larger  parts  or  organs,  all  acting  in  unison,  all  co- 
operating, each  performing  a  peculiar  use  or  function,  by  do- 
ing which  other  organs  are  enabled  to  perform  theirs;  and  thus, 
from  their  very  differences  and  variety  of  nature  and  office,  all 
are  mutually  interdependent,  each  upon  all  and  all  upon  each. 

A  plant  consists  of  root,  stem,  branch,  leaf,  flower,  fruit 
and  seed  to  produce  new  plants.  These  parts  again  are  com- 
posed of  various  minute  structures,  air  tubes,  sap  vessels,  cel- 
lular tissue,  glands  for  secretion  and  excretion,  inner  and  outer 
bark,  coloring  matter,  etc.,  all  co-operating  to  preserve  the 
plant  in  health  and  enable  it  to  fulfil  the  end  of  its  existence. 

In  the  bodies  of  animals  and  human  beings,  we  find  a  yet 
more  active  and  vivid  manifestation  of  this  law  of  co-operation 
among  a  multitude  of  different  parts  and  organs,  each,  as  in 
the  previous  case,  having  its  own  office  to  perform,  and  so, 
enabling  others  to  perform  theirs,  and  thus  to  preserve  the  life 
and  health  of  the  being,  and  fit  it  for  its  destiny. 

In' the  globe  itself  we  find  the  same  law  of  co-operation  at 
work  in  making  and  keeping  this  globe  a  fit  abode  for  living 
creatures.  For  evidently  if  any  of  the  elements  which  go  to 
make  up  a  habitable  region  and  climate  were  absent  nothing 
could  live.  If  the  atmosphere  were  stripped  off  the  earth, 
nothing  could  live.  Take  away  the  oceans,  lakes  and  rivers, 
and  plant  and  animal  life  would  cease.  If  the  heat  and  light 
of  the  sun  were  cut  off  nothing  could  live.  If  the  subtile  ele- 
ments known  as  the  electric,  magnetic,  odylic  forces  were  re- 
moved, nothing  could  live.  If  the  rocky  surface  of  the  globe 
were  not  covered  by  a  proper  depth  of  fertile  soil,  there  could 
be  no  life  on  the  continents.  Neither,  again,  could  life  exist 
if  the  globe  did  not  revolve  and  give  the  necessary  alternations 
of  day  and  night. 

Thus  we  see  it  is  the  combination  and  united  presence  and 
action  of  all  these  different  things  in  due  proportion,  and  their 
endlessly  varied  movements  and  interchanges — it  is  by  the 
working  together  of  all  these  very  different  elements  and  forces 
(like  the  several  instruments  of  an  orchestra,  evolving  by  their 


45 

interdependance  and  accord,  a  compound  harmony)  that  a  hab- 
itable climate  is  produced  and  life  for  plants,  animals  and  men 
made  possible. 

Then,  as  said,  as  we  rise  in  the  scale  of  organized  beings, 
the  number  and  variety  of  parts,  and  of  organs  composed  of 
parts  united  In  harmonious  co-operation,  increase  at  every  step, 
until  they  reach  their  culmination  and  climax  in  man,  and  with 
the  poet  we  exclaim  : 

*'  How  wonderful,  how  complicate,  is  man  I 
A  mighty  maze,  yet  not  without  a  plan." 

Now  let  it  be  well  noted  that  here  in  the  human  body  and 
its  multitude  of  greatly  differing,  but  mutually  interdependent 
smaller  and  larger  parts  composing  entire  organs  and  systems 
of  organs,  as  the  nervous,  the  muscular,  the  digestive,  the  res- 
piratory, the  circulatory,  etc. ;  that  here,  in  this  living  organ- 
ism— the  human  body — we  have  not  only  the  model  and  pat  - 
tern  of  a  perfect  society  (which  is  but  another  name  for  a  Chris 
tian  society,  or  a  human  brotherhood),  but  at  the  same  time, 
the  model  of  a  complete  and  true  republic,  a  republic,  or  the 
administration  of  common  activities  and  of  a  common  wealth 
and  abundance,  produced  by  all  the  organs  or  members,  and 
shared  by  all  in  proportion  to  the  service  rendered  by  each, 
and  where  the  nature  and  requirements  of  every  such  member 
or  constituent  part,  small  or  great,  is  fully  and  impartially 
recognized,  and  no  less  fully  satisfied.  For  by  doing  its  own 
adapted  work,  abundance  of  blood  and  nervous  power  is  fur- 
nished to  each  and  all,  and  the  health  and  energy  of  the  man 
is  maintained. 

And  now,  if,  following  up  this  great  and  universal  law  of 
combination  and  co-operation  which,  through  its  rising  steps 
and  groups  and  series  of  groups,  and  series  of  series,  etc., 
evolves  all  the  harmonious  and  beneficent  results  that  we  see  in 
the  mineral  kingdom,  and  in  plant,  animal,  and  human-  organ- 
isms— if  we  follow  out  and  upwards,  this  great  difference — 
harmonizing  law,  and  proceed  to  view  individual  human  be- 
ings themselves  as  in  their  turn  constituting  the  first  atoms  or 
units  of  the  larger  body  of  a  social  organism — rising  from  the 
family  group  to  that  of  the  town  or  city ;  from  this  to  the  as- 
semblage of  cities,  forming  the  province,  or  state;  from  this 
to  the  entire  group  of  states  composing  the  nation,  etc. ;  then, 
the  perfection  of  such  a  socizil  organism,  composed  of  men, 
women  and  children  in  increasing  aggregations,  will  be  noth- 
ing more  or  less  than  the  imitation,  the  reflection  and  counter- 
part, on  a  larger  and  larger  scale,  of  the  little  co-operative  re- 
public with  which  we  are  presented  in  the  human  body. 

For,  what  do  we  see  here  ?  What  are  the  prominent  feat- 
ure* of  the  vital  processes — the  industries — carried  on  in  the 
body,  looked  at  a  little  closely  ? 


46 

They  may  be  enumerated  as  follows  : 

1.  The  body  consists  of  a  great  number  of  organs ;  each 
organ  of  a  multitude  of  parts:  each  part  of  a  variety  of  tissues; 
each  tissue  of  countless  fibres  and  globules.     All  these  are  ar- 
ranged  in  beautiful  groups  and  series  of  groups.     Thus,  in 
every  muscle  there  is  first  the  ultimate  fibre,  then  a  bundle  or 
group  of  these  fibres ;  lastly,  bundles  of  these  bundles,  or  series 
of  these  groups  within  a  common  sheath. 

_ The  lungs  consist  of  countless  minute  air  cells;  these  cells 
are  collected  into  clusters,  or  groups,  with  a  common  duct, 
like  a  bunch  of  grapes  on  a  stem.  A  series  of  these  groups,  or 
clusters,  form  a  lobule;  a  series  of  lobules  form  a  lobe,  while 
three  lobes  form  the  right  lung,  and  two,  the  left.  So  with 
the  organs,  the  various  glands,  etc. 

2.  Each  organ,  as  is  well  known,  performs  a  distinct  func- 
tion; performs  that  which  no  other  can  perform  but  itself. 
The  stomach  digests,  the  lacteals  absorb;  the  lungs  bring  air 
to  the  blood,  the  heart  circulates  it;  the  muscles    move   the 
limbs,  etc. 

3.  Thus  all  the  organs  are  co-relative  or  supplementary  to 
each  other;   each  supplies  what  the  other  cannot;    and   so, 
through  the  labors  of  all  united,  the  body  is  provided  for. 

4.  All  the  organs  crave  opportunity  to  act.     They  main- 
tain their  own  health  by  performing  their  functions,  and  were 
they  endowed  with  consciousness,  they  would  feel  pleasure  from 
activity,  or  pain  from  idleness.     Thus  the  stomach  is  agreeably 
affected  by  the  presence  of  food  after  a  due  interval  of  rest,  but 
is  pained  or  disordered  by  starvation,  or  rather  the  owner  is 
through  his  stomacTi,  and  so  knows  its  condition.     The  mus- 
cles loudly  ask  to  be  set  in  motion  after  prolonged  rest,  and 
become  weak  and  waste  away,  from  long  inaction.     And  so 
on,  through  the  whole  circle  of  the  organs — each  performs  its 
own  office  and  does  it  well,  because  it  alone  is  adapted  to  that 
office.     "Its  attraction  is  proportioned  to  its  destiny,"  as  Four- 
ier teaches,  and  it  craves  its  proper  action. 

5.  Each  organ  sympathizes  with  all,  and  all  sympathize 
with  each.     Does  the  head  receive  a  violent  blow,  causing  con- 
cussion of  the  brain,  the  stomach  at  once  nauseates  and  vomits. 
A  burn  or  wound  of  sufficient  extent  causes  fever.     Cold  feet 
may  produce  a  cough  or  diarrhoea  or  cold  in  the  head.     Dis- 
order in  the  stomach  or  bowels  often  causes  muscular  weak- 
ness  and  mental   dullness.     Disease,  as  well   as  health   and 
strength,  is  contagious  among  the  organs  in  proportion  to  their 
affinity  of  nature  and  function,  and  thus  each  finds  its  own 
welfare  only  in  that  of  all  the  rest. 

6.  All  the  organs  subserve  a  common  end,  which  is  the 
development  and  preservation  of  the  whole  body,  and  the  en- 
abling each  part  to  act  efficiently,  and  so  to  keep  the  whole 
system  in  working  order.     Thus  no  vigorous  muscular  action 


47 

by  any  liinb  can  be  performed  without  previously  or  at  the  same 
time  calling  into  action  many  other  organs.  A  muscle  cannot 
contract  strongly  unless  it  be  formed  of  healthy  fibre,  and  this 
requires  the  previous  co-operation  of  all  the  organs  engaged  in 
the  production  of  good  blood.  Then  at  the  moment  of  con- 
traction, especially  if  several  limbs  and  sets  of  muscles  are  put 
to  work,  they  all  depend  upon  the  immediate  co-operation  of 
the  lungs,  heart  and  brain  for  a  proper  supply  of  blood  and 
nervous  energy,  and  no  less  on  the  firm  resistance  of  a  series  of 
bones,  and  the  action  of  the  other  muscles. 

7.  All  the  bodily  organs  contribute  their  united  labors  to 
furnish  a  sufficient  supply  of  food   for  all,  viz.,  the  blood, 
And  of  this  each  one  receives  whatever  it  requires  for  health, 
for  full  development,  and   of  material  to  elaborate  by  its  own 
labor  into  some  other  product,  all  of  which  is  again  employed 
for  the  common  benefit  in  the  production  and  distribution  of 
more  blood,  and  more  working  power. 

8.  The  most  active  organs  take  or  receive  more,  the  less  ac- 
tive the  less  of  the   general  wealth— the  blood.     The  muscles 
most  used   attract  the   most  blood   and  nervous  power,  and 
grow  in   size   and   strength,    as   seen  in  the  arm  of  the  black- 
smith,   or  the  limbs   of   a  dancer  or  pedestrian ;  while  those 
which  are  less  used  receive  less  blood  and  diminish  in  size  and 
power.     Those  organs  which  are  the  most  important  and  have 
the   most  of  life  and  energy,  continually  receive  more  blood 
than  others,  but  they  also  bestow   power,  and  contribute  most 
to  the  common  weliare,  as  the   brain,  for  instance,  which  re- 
ceives one-eighth  of  all  the  blood  in  the  body. 

8.  There  is  an  alternation  of  activity  and  rest  among  the 
organs,  and  this  is  repeated  in  rising  steps  from  the  successive 
action  and  rest  of  individual  organs,  to  the  waking  and  sleep 
of  the  whole  man.  Thus  the  stomach  digests  and  then  re- 
poses; the  muscle  contracts  and  then  relaxes;  no  mental 
organ  is  always  active,  but  when  we  weary  of  one  pursuit  we 
engage  in  another.  Even  in  those  organs  which  seem  to  be 
always  at  work,  as  the  heart  and  lungs,  there  are  sufficient  in- 
tervals of  repose. 

Then  for  the  entire  body  and  mind,  change  of  air,  change 
of  food,  employment,  society  and  surroundings,  are  all  more 
or  less  essential  to  health. 

10.  All  the  members  of  this  minature  republic,  the  body, 
are  in  willing  subordination  to  various  minor  nervous  centres, 
and  finally  to  the  supreme  control  of  the  "head  centre,"  the 
brain,  and  in  perfect  harmony  with  it  in  health,  and  though 
the  influence  of  this  central  "  directory"  of  the  brain  extends 
to  the  smallest  parts,  yet  the  "local  independence"  of  each 
such  part  is  everywhere  maintained,  each  organ  acting  freely 
in  all  that  concerns  itself,  yet  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  like 
freedom  of  others.  In  the  human  body  we  have  an  example 


48 

of  the  union  of  perfect  liberty  with  perfect  order,  And  when 
human  beings  allow  themselves  to  be  brought  under  the  same 
law  of  associated  order  that  governs  in  this  human  body  (and 
so  admit  of  higher  and  humanizing  'influences  to  bear  upon 
them,  which  our  competitive  industrial  warfare  now  very  greatly 
shuts  out,  as  a  stone  or  brier  covered  field  shuts  out  what  good 
seed^inay  be  thrown  upon  it) ;  then  we  will  have  this  union  of 
liberty  with  order  in  the  social  body  also. 

11.  As  the  structural  arrangement  of  the  component  partsof 
each  organ,    and  the   arrangement  of   all  the   organs  in  the 
aggregate,  form  a  constantly  ascending  series  of  larger  units 
composed   of  smaller,  so   are   also  the  functions  of  the  organs 
grouped  in  series  around  pivotal  or  chief  functions.     For  ex- 
ample, the  digestion  of  food  in   the  stomach  is  the  pivotal,  or 
most  important  and  prominent  of  a  series  of  vital  processes  by 
which  the  food  is  converted  into  blood,  but  which  we  need  not 
here  particularize. 

12.  But  the   crowning  resemblance  of  the  human  bodily 
organism  to   a   Christian  community,  or   a  perfect  society  of 
human  beings,  lies  in  the  great  unselfishness,  so  to  say,  ot  the 
organs  composing  it — their  obedience  to  the  precept  of  love  to 
their  neighbor.     The  slightest  glance  at  their  mode  of  co-oper- 
ation will  show  that  each  labors  more   for  others  than  it  does 
for  itself;  that  what  any  organ   produces  or  does  for  its  own 
advantage  is  but  a  fraction  of  what  it  does  for  the  whole  body. 
A  tithe  of  its  own  labor  suffices  to  supply  itself  abundantly 
with  the  particular  product  of  its  work,  and  it  depends  for  the 
other  elements  required  for  its  life,  upon  the   good   faith  and 
industry  cf  the  ^ther  organs. 

Thus  the  stomach  digests  a  certain  amount  of  food  daily,  but 
a  very  small  portion  of  this  digested  material  when  formed 
into  blood,  is  returned  to  it  for  its  own  nourishment,  but  it  is 
supplied  with  what  else  it  needs  from  the  general  wealth.  The 
heart  circulates  about  thirty  pounds  of  blood  through  the 
body,  but  of  this  only  a  few  ounces  go  to  itself;  and  the  lungs 
purify  the  same  amount  of  blood,  but  they  require  a  very  small 
part  of  it  for  themselves.  The  regular  exercise  of  any  number 
of  muscles  6onfer  upon  themselves  but  a  small  part  of  the  bene- 
fit bestowed  upon  the  whole  body  by  their  action,  for  by  their 
contraction,  as  in  walking,  lifting  or  doing  ordinary  work  in 
shop  or  farm,  they  quicken  the  circulation,  promote  the  numer- 
ous processes  of  secretion,  excretions,  absorptions  and  assimi- 
lation everywhere ;  quicken  the  respiration,  purify  the  blood, 
increase  the  bodily  heat  and  nervous  energy,  and  in  short  con- 
tribute very  greatly  to  the  general  heaith. 

Such  is  the  working  of  man's  bodily  organization.  It  is  a 
perfect  example  of  a  Christian  society,  or  a  true  social  form  or 
administration.  Each  member  lives  for  all,  and  all  live  and 
work  for  each  other ;  are  animated  by  one  aim ;  guided  by  one 


49 

central  head  or  directory,  aided  by  minor  and  subordinate  cen- 
tres in  the  spinal  marrow  and  the  nervous  ganglia  here  and 
there;  each  organ  acts  from  choice,  so  to  say,  and  not  from 
compulsion;  acts  freely  iu  the  sphere  for  which  it  is  best  fitted. 
Here  are  no  clashing  interests ;  no  warring,  no  strife ;  no  en- 
croachment of  one  organ,  member  or  group  of  members  on  the 
rights  and  freedom  of  others;  no  rivalry;  no  fierce  and  suicidal 
competition  in  the  struggle  of  one  or  more  organs  to  draw  an 
overplus  of  blood  to  themselves  and  thus  of  necessity  depriv- 
ing others  of  their  rightful  share,  and  so  in  both  directions 
wrecking  the  health  of  the  whole  body;  but  everywhere  there 
is  unity,  peace,  concord,  harmony,  sympathy,  co-operation, 
mutual  interdependence,  love  and  brotherhood.  We  find 
everywhere  the  reign  of  liberty  and  order,  producing  as  a  re- 
sult, health  and  pleasure  in  every  salient  part. 

Now  we  would  ask  if  it  is  at  all  possible  by  the  utmost 
stretch  of  thought,  to  give  the  faintest  shadow  of  a  reason  why 
a  harmonic  organization  of  the  living  parts,  after  being  typed 
and  foreshadowed  even  in  the  mineral  kingdom  by  the  arbor- 
escent or  plant-like  crystal  (as  by  the  frost  foliage,  the  fairy- 
like  ice  shrubbery  on  the  cold  window  pane  in  winter),  and 
carried  onward  and  upwards  through  countless  forms  of  beauty 
in  both  vegetable  and  animal  kingdoms— why  such  organiza- 
tion of  living  parts  should  come  to  a  sudden  stop,  after  having 
been  displayed  in  such  perfection  in  the  human  bodily  organ- 
ism ?  For  what  imaginable  reason  can  it  be  supposed  that 
this  is  the  limit  of  this  wonderful  organizing  law — the  serial 
law— or  law  of  groups  and  series  of  groups;  the  law  of  har- 
monic association  of  varieties  and  of  differences  into  compound 
unity ;  of  many  dissimilar  parts  and  functions  into  an  ever 
ascending  series  of  larger  and  larger  wholes  ? 

If  we  analyze  the  individual  human  body  we  find  as  already 
said,  that  this  body  begins  with  the  microscopic  atom,  or 
minute  cell ;  and  by  successively  higher  and  higher  aggrega- 
gations  of  this  primitive  cell,  to  compose  each  different  organ 
and  each  system  of  organs,  becomes  that  wonderful  and  com- 
plex living  mechanism  which  it  is. 

Now,  even  so,  should  and  will  individual  human  beings  or 
human  units,  men  and  women,  become  the  commencing  atoms 
of  a  newer  and  higher  series  of  aggregations  of  persons  obey- 
ing the  same  law  of  harmonic  association  and  co  operation, 
viz.,  the  law  of  series  and  groups,  or  the  serial  law,  discovered 
by  Charles  Fourier  in  the  beginning  of  this  century,  that  har- 
monizes dissimilar  parts  in  all  lower  ranks  of  creation.  Indi- 
vidual men  and  women,  under  the  light  and  guidance  of  this 
divine  law  of  order,  seen  everywhere  in  the  universe,  would 
freely  arrange  themselves  into  smaller  and  larger  and  yet  larger 
groups  or  industrial  bodies,  performing  functions  in  the  great 
human  commonwealth,  or  republic,  precisely  analogous  to 


50 

those  discharged  by  the  organs  composing  the  individual  flesh 
and  blood  body. 

The  universal  sphere  of  human  industries,  daily  amplified  as 
it  is  by  new  discoveries,  offers  ample  room  for  the  satisfaction 
of  the  most  diversified  tastes,  so  that  persons  of  congenial 
character  and  industrial  adaptation  would  in  a  true  social  or- 
der, find  themselves  almost  spontaneously  assembled  together 
at  some  common  labor,  just  as  the  cells  of  the  lungs,  or  of  the 
brain,  or  of  the  muscles  are  grouped  into  their  respective  or- 
gans because  they  perform  a  common  function. 

Thus  there  would  be  in  the  social  body  as  in  the  body  of 
the  individual  man,  atoms  or  first  units,  or  persons  first  united 
into  a  group  through  fondness  for  the  same  kind  of  work; 
these  again  united  into  a  series  of  such  groups;  these  into  a 
series  of  series,  ever  enlarging,  or  embracing  a  greater  and 
greater  number  of  interdependent  and  co-operating  workers, 
busy  at  their  corresponding,  interlaced  and  mutually  depend- 
ent industries,  until  the  population  of  an  entire  integral  co- 
operative city  of  several  thousand  persons  would  be  firmly  and 
amicably  bound  together  in  prosecuting  the  whole  circle  of 
human  industries — farming,  manufactures,  commerce,  domes- 
tic labors,  education,  etc.,  producing  and  providing  everything 
required  by  every  citizen  for  living  a  true,  full  and  dignified 
human  life. 

Then  all  such  integral  co-operative  cities,  filling  a  whole 
state,  and  each  surrounded  by  its  own  farm  lands  (either  its 
own  or  rented  from  the  government  and  so  settling  the  vexed 
land  question)  would  be  linked  together  by  their  common  in- 
terests and  by  their  mutual  exchanges  of  the  superfluities  of 
each;  the  over  abundance  of  one  kind  of  product,  exchanged 
for  that  of  another  kind  produced  by  a  neighboring  city.  In 
fact,  though,  as  the  quantity  of  all  articles  needed  by  the  citi- 
zens would  be  known  to  a  fraction,  no  overplus  would  ever 
be  made  except  for  the  very  purpose  of  such  exchange  for  arti- 
cles not  produced  in  the  city. 

And  the  co-operative  bond  would  thus  embrace  ever  larger 
and  larger  aggregations  of  co-operative  workers,  until  the 
population  not  only  of  a  single  province,  but  of  a  State,  a  con- 
tinent, of  the  entire  globe,  would  only  more  and  more  thor- 
oughly and  clearly  typify  the  individual  human  body  in  the 
countless  number  of  its  interdependent  and  interwoven  func- 
tions or  industrial  uses. 

What  can  be  more  beautifully  expressive  of  this  divine 
order  and  arrangement  of  human  beings  in  co-operative  society 
than  the  declaration  of  Swedenborg  that  "the  church  is  a 
man  ?"  Then  that  a  true  church  on  a  large  scale,  or  a  perfect 
Christian  society  consists  of  individuals  whose  diversified 
characters,  tastes  and  aptitudes  for  a  like  diversity  of  occupa- 
tions, clearly  correspond  to  the  numerous  co-operating  organs 


51 

and  their  functions  which  go  to  make  up  the  entire  human  be- 
ing, comprising  both  mind  and  body. 

This  grand  truth  did  not  escape  the  Apostle  Paul.  With 
him  the  human  body  was  a  favorite  emblem  wherewith  to  illus- 
trate the  working  of  the  Christian  law.  (See  Romans,  xii: 
4-5;  also  1  Corinthians  xii,  the  whole  of  which  is  devoted  to 
the  same  object  as  this  present  article,  viz.,  to  show  that  the 
true  social  body  is  the  perfect  analogue  of  the  individual 
human  body.  (See  also  Ephesians,  iv:  16  and  previous  verses; 
Galatians,  v:  30.) 

The  word  "church"  we  may  here  remark,  is  derived  from 
the  Greek  Kuriacon,  or  the  Lord's  house  (Kurios,  lord  or 
master  and  oikos,  a  house)  means  simply  a  dwelling  place  of 
the  Supreme  Master — God.  And  he  or  she  is  a  true  church  in 
this  least  form  just  in  the  degree  that  the  person  glows  with 
the  love-heat  of  charity  with  its  light  of  corresponding  and 
agreeing  truth  or  doctrine,  and  keeps  these  as  the  impelling 
motive  of  his  round  of  daily  labors,  down  to  the  least.  A 
society  of  such  persons  is  a  church  in  a  larger  form :  a  number 
of  such  societies  are  yet  a  larger  church,  and  so  on.  The  essen- 
tial thing  is  to  acquire  charity  or  love,  that  is,  the  love  of  use  to 
others  from  a  sincere  desire  to  co-operate  with  the  Divine, 
ever  beneficent  worker,  and  this  includes  the  love  of  and  search 
for  agreeing  religious  truth,  and  the  practice  of  and  living  it, 
in  motive,  thought  and  act.  Bat  to  return. 

Thus  does  the  order  and  harmony  of  life  in  the  human 
body  reflect  the  grand  law  of  co-operation  among  many  differ- 
ent parts,  by  which  the  harmony  of  the  universe  is  maintained 
everywhere  except  among  human  beings.  Here  its  action  dur- 
ing long  ages  has  been  a  kind  of  partial  and  inverse  action 
among  men ;  action  from  without  instead  of  within,  or  by  their 
conscious  and  intelligent  comprehension  of  it,  and  willing  con- 
formity to  it.  Men's  social  impulses  have  always  drawn  them 
into  communities,  and  their  daily  necessities  have  also  forced 
them  into  communities  in  order  to  allow  them  to  exchange  or 
to  sell  the  products  of  their  labor  to  each  other  for  individual 
gain  and  the  means  of  individual  life;  and  so,  under  this  rtigu 
of  individualism  men's  interests,  even  though  gathered  into 
communities,  and  also,  though  thus  mutually  dependent  upon 
each  other,  these  interests  have  ever  been  more  or  less  conflict- 
ing and  divergent.  This  has  been  so,  from  the  circumstance 
that  human  beings,  whose  gift  of  reason,  superior  intelligence 
and  freedom  of  choice  and  action,  while  placing  them  at  the 
very  summit  of  c  reation  (man  is  the  very  highest  of  created 
beings  anywhere)  yet  allows  them  to  violate  the  order  of  their 
life  which  animals  cannot  do,  and  so  to  remain  ignorant  of, 
and  run  counter  to  this  great  harmonizing  law  of  co-operation 
among  unlike  but  complementary  parts.  Hence  in  ignorance 
of  this  law,  and  therefore  impulsively  and  of  necessity  under 


52 

the  circumstances,  substituting  a  universal  individualism  for  a 
universal  co-operative  activity.  Man  could  not  possibly  fail 
eventually,  in  proportion  to  the  intensity  of  this  unorganized 
disorderly  individualism,  could  not  fail  to  plunge  themselves 
into  just  that  poverty  stricken  and  daily  drudging  life  for  the 
masses  which  is  now  more  than  ever  distressing  all  countries 
precisely  in  the  degree  that  they  are  civili&ed,  in  the  degree  that 
population  becomes  dense,  and  that  land  and  machinery  are 
seized  and  monopolized  by  those  who  have  the  power.  Where 
this  nineteenth  century  civilization  is  at  its  maximum,  viz.,  in 
our  cities,  the  very  centres  of  this  civilization,  centres  where 
it  glows  the  brightest,  there  do  we  find  the  greatest  contrasts 
between  enormous  wealth  on  one  hand,  and  the  most  abject, 
more  than  savage  poverty  on  the  other. 

All  this  seems  very  paradoxical,  and  the  why  and  where- 
fore seems  to  many  persons  a  great  puzzle.  But  in  view  of  the 
foregoing  consideration,  how  could  matters  possibly  be  otherwise 
in  the  very  nature  of  things,  man  and  the  universe  being  consti- 
tuted as  they  are  ?  How  could  matters  be  otherwise  when 
Heaven's  grand  law  of  order,  the  law  of  combination  and  co- 
operation, that  evolves  harmony  everywhere  else  in  nature, 
in  all  her  three  kingdoms,  is  constantly  violated  by  men  in 
their  collective  capacity,  or  in  their  relations  to  each  other — 
each  going  his  own  separate  way  in  search  of  what  his  own 
life  requires,  instead  of  uniting  their  powers  to  produce  what 
every  one  requires,  and  in  this  way  repeat  on  the  higher  plane 
or  level  of  human  society  the  orderly  co-operative  method  that 
rules  not  only  among  the  organs  of  the  human  body  itself,  but 
also  in  all  the  lower  ranks  of  creation  ? 

Under  this  reign  of  perverted  individualism  it  is  true  that 
the  past  century  has  witnessed  the  most  unprecedented  strides 
in  the  material  progress  of  the  world.  The  application  of 
steam  and  other  forces  as  motive  power  to  machinery,  and  the 
invention  of  the  railroad  and  telegraph,  and  hosts  of  all  kinds 
of  labor  saving  and  work  quickening  contrivances,  have 
changed  the  face  of  the  globe.  They  have  marvelously  mul- 
tiplied and  stimulated  human  industries  by  throwing  a  vast 
network  of  railroads,  telegraphs  and  telephones  over  the  conti- 
nents, and  lines  of  fleetest  steamers  across  the  oceans,  and  in 
all  these  ways  have  not  only  greatly  multiplied  the  material 
comforts  of  the  human  race,  but  have  also  brought  the 
populations  of  the  globe  together  as  never  before,  and  into  a 
greater  or  less  community  of  feeling  and  thought,  through  the 
ease  and  cheapness  of  travel,  and  through  the  flood  of  periodi- 
cal and  other  literature  poured  forth  from  the  teeming  press  of 
each  civilized  country,  and  which  to  a  great  extent,  is  quickly 
diffused  among  all.  There  is  a  vast  "running  to  and  fro 
among  men,  and  knowledge  is  vastly  increased,"  and  in  addi- 
tion, it  cannot  be  denied,  we  think,  that  compared  with  pre- 


53 

vious  centuries  the  moral  character  of  the  nations  is  improved, 
and  the  human  elements  in  man's  nature  are  coming  more  and 
more  to  the  front,  in  spite  of  this  competitive  individualism, 
whose  whole  tendency  is  to  lash  the  selfish  impulses  to  the 
utmost. 

But  there  is  a  dark  side  to  this  picture  of  progress. 

How,  it  may  be  asked,  have  all  these  great  results  as  to 
material  comforts  and  conveniences  been  accomplished  ?  It 
has  been  accomplished  by  the  money  power  of  the  world ;  by 
wealth  gathered  by  individuals  and  companies,  at  first  from 
the  spur  of  the  necessity  for  self-maintainance  and  afterwards 
from  the  desire  to  accumulate  'more  and  more  through  these 
enterprises  which  benefit  the  public  while  they  enrich  those 
who  undeitake  them.  It  is  the  desire  for  personal  and  indi- 
vidual gain,  by  supplying  the  public  with  what  it  will  pay  for 
that  has  led  individuals  and  companies  to  open  and  work  the 
thousands  of  mines  of  all  kinds;  to  build  and  operate  the 
thousands  of  mills,  factories,  foundries,  gas  works,  water 
works,  street  car  lines,  lines  of  railroads,  telegraph  and  tele- 
phone lines,  lines  of  steamers  and  sailing  vessels,  ocean  cables, 
etc.  All  this  is  done  by  the  money  power,  by  the  capital  of 
the  world.  But  how  ?  By  hiring  the  labor  of  those  who  have 
no  money,  and  whose  only  capital  is  their  labor. 

But  see  what  this  individualism  involves,  quite  apart  from 
the  benefits  which  all  its  great  enterprises  confer  on  the  pub- 
lic, in  supplying  its  wants  which  could  never  be  supplied, 
while  the  competitive  system  exists,  without  these  undertak- 
ings by  individual  capitalists  or  companies ;  but  in  default  of 
this  we  would  have  to  go  back  to  a  very  primitive  kind  of  life. 

But  passing  from  the  great  and  useful  results  arising  from 
enterprises  entered  upon  by  wealthy  individuals  or  wealthy 
corporations  in  the  various  modes  mentioned,  what  is  the  dark 
side,  the  evil  results  of  this  individualism  ?  They  are : 

First.  Intense  competition  between  all  persons  or  compa- 
nies engaged  in  the  same  kind  of  business;  perpetual  jealousy, 
rivalry,  hostility;  efforts  to  hinder  the  success  of  rivals  and 
competitors,  and  to  seize  every  chance  to  get  ahead,  or  even  to 
throw  them  out  of  the  race  and  have  the  field  to  themselves ; 
added  to  all  this  is  endless  uncertainty  as  to  business  pros- 
pects, constant  fluctuations  in  profits — in  fact  such  uncertainty 
and  hap-hazzardness  as  to  result  in  the  failure  of  ninety-five 
persons  out  of  every  hundred,  according  to  statistics  and  busi- 
ness reports.  These  give  us  several  hundred  failures  each 
week  in  the  United  States,  about  12,000  a  year,  and  at  five  to 
a  family  would  show  each  year  some  sixty  thousand  persons 
thus  obliged  to  begin  the  battle  of  life  over  again,  with  the 
same  odds  always  against  them,  and  yet  we  boast  of  our  civili- 
zation ! 

Second.  There  is  involved  in  this  individualism  an  intense 


54 

competition  in  another  quarter,  viz.,  among  multitudes  among 
the  millions  of  wage  workers  to  get  employment,  thousands  at 
all  times  being  unable  to  do  so,  while  more  that  succeed  in 
finding  work  can  never  be  certain  as  to  how  long  they  may  re- 
ceive it,  as  they  are  ever  liable  to  be  discharged  at  any  moment 
for  some  of  many  causes,  and  then  must  go  again  to  hunt  work 
with  often  a  dependent  wife  and  family.  It  is  impossible  to 
properly  conceive  of  the  distress  of  a  man  so  placed,  honest, 
capable  and  willing  to  work,  and  yet  searching  it  in  vain, 
hopeless  and  wayworn  with  fruitless  tramping  from  place  to 
place.  Of  such  unfortunates  there  are  many,  and  it  is  a  great 
mistake  to  suppose  as  many  do,  that  every  person  who  wants 
work  can  get  it. 

Third.  This  individualistic  system  compels  each  person  or 
each  company  to  sell  services  or  its  acquired  commodity  for 
money  in  order  to  have  the  means  to  purchase  life's  necessities. 
Hence,  according  to  the  supply  of  such  services  and  commodi- 
ties, thousands  trying  to  sell  the  same  article,  the  market  fluc- 
tuates continually,  is  either  up  or  down.  The  wants  of  the 
great  public  being  only  guessed  at  instead  of  being  most  accu- 
rately known,  as  will  be  the  case  in  the  co-operative  city,  there- 
fore there  is  either  an  overplus  of  goods,  or  a  scarcity,  causing 
in  the  former  case  a  fall  of  prices,  and  in  the  latter  a  "  boom," 
and  thereupon  a  rush  of  sellers  to  take  advantage  of  it,  pro- 
ducing another  over-supply,  then  again  low  prices  and  more 
failures.  This  is  the  perpetual  circle,  the  endless  rut  in  which 
competitive  business  runs  and  will  continue  to  run  until  it  is 
seen  that  the  only  possible  escape  out  of  it  is  by  changing  com- 
petitive individualism  for  industrial  co-operation. 

From  all  this  and  the  lightning  rush  and  high  pressure  of 
fierce  competition  everywhere,  so  different  from  the  compara- 
tive snail's  pace  of  former  times ;  from  all  this,  we  say,  it  is 
evident  that  the  outraged  law  of  order  and  harmony  that  rules 
in  the  universe,  or  the  law  of  co-operation,  is  making  this  vio- 
lation of  itself  more  and  more  painfully  felt  year  by  year,  in  all 
civilized  countries,  because  the  very  opposite  of  this  law,  viz., 
a  self-seeking  and  perverted  individualism  in  its  most  intensi- 
fied and  rampant  form,  is  constantly  and  increasingly  at  work 
in  producing  the  effects  just  enumerated.  It  is  this  impulsive, 
selfish,  individualism,  up  to  the  present  time,  however,  per- 
haps the  only  possible  industrial  system,  and  one  which,  there- 
fore, only  shows  the  yet  immature  character  of  human  indus- 
trial life ;  it  is  this  individualism  that  is  the  prolific  source  of 
these  wide-spread  and  growiug  labor  troubles;  of  this  growing 
war  betwt en  labor  and  capital;  of  this  widening  gulf  between 
the  small  minority  of  the  immensely  rich  and  the  millions  of 
wage  workers  with  their  often  less  than  a  dollar  a  day — the 
immensely  rich  with  their  million  dollars  or  more  apiece,  rang- 
ing fiorn  one  to  150  millions,  and  the  millions  of  day  laborers 


55 

getting  barely  living  wages  and  kept  just  above  the  starvation 
line  and  not  much  more,  even  with  wages  higher  than  those 
of  the  European  worker,  only  by  ever  recurring  strike  and  by 
labor  unions  organized  for  self-protection  against  the  low  wages 
which  employers,  who  are  not  all  mere  greed  graspers,  are 
often  driven  to  offer  from  the  hot  competition  among  them- 
selves, which  tends  to  annihilate  profits. 

Yet  the  millionaire  is  not  to  be  censured  on  account  of  his 
wealth  unless  it  has  been  obtained  by  iniquitous  methods.  He 
has  been  only  sharp  and  shrewd  enough  to  seize  the  opportuni- 
ties that  presented  themselves,  and  made  the  most  of  them — 
opportunities  which  presented  themselves  in  the  accustomed 
and  everywhere  recognized  lines  and  modes  of  business; 
opportunities,  moreover,  which  the  majority  of  those  who  criti- 
cize him  would  just  as  quickly  have  snapped  at  themselves  had 
they  been  in  his  place. 

Is  it  not  evident  that  the  fault  and  occasion  of  such  doings 
lies  in  this  individualistic  and  competitive  system  of  business — 
a  system  which  makes  possible  such  opportunities  for  drawing 
great  wealth  from  the  public?  If  one  man  makes  but  his  few 
thousands,  where  his  neighbor  makes  his  millions,  each  still  acts 
on  the  same  principles,  each  tries  to  get  all  he  can  from  the  op- 
portunities offered,  and  these  have  chanced  to  be  in  favor  of 
the  millionaire.  It  is,  we  repeat,  the  working  of  this  false,  dis- 
orderly competitive  system — this  never-ending  free  fight  be- 
tween weak  and  strong  alike,  that  allows  this  piling  up  of  im- 
mense fortunes  by  the  strong,  through  its  opening  wrong  chan- 
nels for  enterprise  and  energy,  and  forcing  men  into  them  by 
the  spur  of  necessity,  or  by  the  prospect  of  great  gain. 

It  is  this  disorderly  system,  or  no  system  of  business ;  this 
competing,  false  individualism,  which  in  these  United  States 
creates  the  army  of  tramps,  the  army  of  the  thousands  in  our 
prosperous(?)  cities  who  must  be  supported  by  charity ;  that 
creates  the  deadly  saloons  as  well  as  the  drunkards ;  that  creates 
the  insane,  the  idiots,  the  suicides,  the  criminals,  the  unhappy 
marriages,  the  multitudinous  divorces  (  one  out  of  every  twelve 
married  couples  in  some  of  the  states);  the  half  a  million  or 
more-  of  victims  of  the  "social  evil;"  twelve  thousand  business 
failures  each  year;  the  two  millions  of  unemployedseekers_for 
work;  the  sixty  thousand  boy  tramps';  the  gaiJp~oT^uvenile 
thieves,  burglars,  ruffians  and  young  savages  in  all  our  larger 
towns  and  cities,  and  the  tens  of  thousands  of  young  boys  and 
girls  at  long  and  hard  work  in  mines  and  close,  crowded  fac- 
tories, wearing  their  health  and  young  lives  out,  because  their 
labor  is  cheap  and  because  the  pittance  they  get  helps  the  hard 
working  parents  to  make  both  ends  meet  in" the  family  outlay. 

And  all  these  tilings  are  repeated  in  the  countries  of  the 
eastern  hemisphere,  where,  in  Europe,  thirty- one  millions  of 
workers  get  the  average  of  four  dollars  per  week! 


56 

Can  we  wonder  that  " socialism,"  or  the  demand,  loud  and 
imperative,  for  a  new  order  of  things,  has  burst  up  to  the  sur- 
face, the  world  over  ? 

In  co-operation,  such  deplorable  states  and  conditions  of 
human  life,  as  just  enumerated,  cannot  and  will  not  exist,  All 
children,  without  exception,  will  be  tenderly  cared  for  and 
watched  over,  from  infancy  to  the  age  of  discretion.  They 
will  all  be  well  educated,  will'be  trained  to  useful  occupations 
as  in  Godin's  now  famous,  "  Familistere  "  at  Guise  in 
France;  and  so  they  will  grow  up  honored  members  of  soci- 
ety; and  such  clrsses  of  persons  as  are  now  the  pests  and  bur- 
dens of  the  community  will  gradually  cease  to  appear.  This 
will  be  effected  by  means  of  the  higher  conditions  of  life  and 
environments,  and  the  high  and  humanizing  influences  brought 
to  bear  on  every  individual,  at  all  times,  and  in  all  places. 

When  this  great  and  omnipresent  law  of  co-operation  shall 
have  been  seen  and  understood — seen  as  the  source  and  method 
of  all  the  harmonies  of  creation,  it  will  then  appear  simply  a 
kind  of  lunacy  for  men  to  persist  in  the  present  suicidal  indus- 
trial and  business  competition.  For  a  century,  this  individu- 
alistic activity  has  had  full  swing  in  the  United  States,  for  the 
reasons,  (1)  because  of  the  great  liberty  of  thought  and  action 
we  enjoy;  and  (2)  because  the  better,  because  rational  method, 
that  of  industrial  co-operation  in  small  and  large  communi- 
ties, has  never  to  any  extent  been  concieved  of  by  the  public 
mind,  or  found  any  lodgment  there.  It  has  never  entered  the 
thoughts  of  the  masses  that  it  was  at  all  possible  to  strive  for 
the  means  of  life,  and  obtain  them,  in  any  oilier  way  than  by 
this  individualism— any  other  way  than  by  each  person,  as  said, 
"fighting  the  battle  of  live"  by  himself  and  for  himself  and 
family,  except  when  he  is  a  stockholder  in  some  business  cor- 
poration, which  is  only  a  larger  individual,  and  competes  and 
fights  with  all  other  companies  or  corporations  in  the  same 
line. 

And  so  it  has  come  to  pass  that  at  the  close  of  this  first  cen- 
tury of  our  republic,  we  find  that  the  outcome  and  result  of 
this  every-one-for-himself  free  industrial  fight,  is  that  a 
very  few  thousand  of  strong  and  better  positioned,  and  better 
conditioned  people  have  gathered  the  great  bulk  of  the  national 
wealth,  while  the  millions  remain  drudging  slaves  to  the  ever- 
driving,  ever-recurring  necessities  of  to-morrow,  or  of  next 
week,  or  next  month,  and  but  a  very  small  fraction  of  these 
toilers  are  able  to  put  by  a  little  savings  for  the  ever-threaten- 
ing "rainy  day,"  or  for  the  infirmities  and  incapacity  of  old 
age. 

In  figures,  this  piling  up  of  wealth  in  the  hands  of  the 
few,  is  stated  by  Mr.  Thomas  Shearman  in  the  Forum  (New 
York)  Jor  September,  1889,  to  be  as  follows,  viz. :  that  of  the 
sixty  billions  of  dollars,  the  estimated  amount  of  the  nation's 


57 

wealth  at  the  present  time,  three-fifths  of  this  sum,  or  over 
thirty-six  billions  are  in  the  hands  of  only  thirty-one  thousand 
persons,  while  the  balance  of  the  population  of  sixty  million 
persons,  has  the  remaining  sum  of  twenty-three  billion  dollars! 
And  this  absorption  of  wealth  by  the  few  is  going  on  and 
is  increasing  all  the  time,  and  year  by  year,  as  is  shown  by  the 
statistics  of  each  of  the  few  last  decades. 

Says  Mr.  Shearman,  "As  lately  as  1847,  there  was  but  one 
man  in  this  country  who  was  supposed  to  be  worth  more  than 
five  million  dollars.  .  .  .  There  must  be  now  more  than 
550  persons  whose  wealth  averages  over  twenty  millions."  He 
then  gives  a  table  of  the  estimated  numbers  of  persons  (200) 
who  own  from  over  twenty  million  each,  down  to  twenty  thou- 
sand persons  who  have  half  a  million  each.  The  above  two 
hundred  persons  own  together  four  billion  dollars;  409  other 
persons  own  together  also  four  billion,  and  so  on  down  the  list 
of  1,000  persons,  2,500,  7,000— to  the  20,000  who  own  only 
half  a  million  each,  these  last  holding,  together,  ten  billions, 
and  the  whole  six  classes  (containing  only  31,000  persons) 
holding  the  above  mentioned,  thirty-six  billion,  with  250  mil- 
lions additional.  Then  he  says,  "This  estimate  is  far  below 
the  actual  truth." 

Here  are  a  few  more  items.  The  statement  is  made  by  The 
Christian  Union  of  New  York,  that  "the  estate  of  Mr. 
Wai.  Vanderbilt  alone,  is  worth  165,000  farms  in  the  three 
states  of  South  Carolina,  Florida  and  Louisiana." 

It  is  said  that  63  millionaires  reside  in  the  territory  between 
Dobb's  ferry  and  Tarry  town,  N.  Y.,  a  distance  of  only  six 
miles,  and  they  own  together  500  millions. 

Secretary  of  Treasury  Windom  is  quoted  as  saying,  "There 
are  five  men  in  the  city  of  New  York  who,  by  a  single  touch  of 
the  pen  or  click  of  the  wire,  can  reduce  values  all  over  the 
country  from  50  to  100  per  cent." 

There  is  a  list  of  100  millionaires  in  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  New 
York  city  no  doubt  has  a  thousand,  and  Cleveland,  Chicago- 
all  our  large  cities — have  their  own  quota. 

We  will  here  quote  a  very  few  of  some  of  the  results  of  this 
competitive  industrial  method — this  go-as-you-please, pei~vertcd 
individualism— from  the  work  of  Mr.  A.  K.  Owen,  civil  engi- 
neer, of  Chester,  Pa.,  the  projector  and  leader  of  the  Integral 
Co-operative  company  of  Sinaloa,  Mexico.  This  is  entitled, 
"Integral  Co-operation  at  Work,"  (No.  1)  (Frank  P.  Lovcll  & 
Co.,  New  York): 

"When  we  come  to  the  United  States,  we  find  the  results 
of  political  management  of  public  affairs,  a  failure,  a  most  de- 
plorable failure. 

"  Two  and  a  half  per  cent,  of  the  population  own  one-half 
of  all  the  wealth,  and  this  two  and  a  half  per  cent,  does  noth- 


58 

ing  but  distort  legislation,  and,  by  law,  take  for  their  own  what 
the  producers  make. 

"  There  are  mortgages  on  the  farms  of  ten  western  states, 
amounting  to  $1,200,000,000  (1,200  millions).  Bonanza  farms 
double  in  every  three  years. 

"In  1870,  the  farms  over  1,000  acres  numbered  3,400;  in 
1880,  28,000,  or  800  per  cent,  incresase  •  not  very  pleasant  read 
ing  for  one  that  believes  in  a  democratic  government.  A  ten- 
ant class  is  an  excrescence  in  a  republic. 

"The  census  of  1880  tells  us  there  were  1,024,601  tenant 
farmers  in  the  United  States,  or  200,000  more  than  Great  Brit- 
ain had  in  the  most  prosperous  times  of  Irish  landlordism. 

1  'In  1 880  we  had  the  largest  tenant  farming  class  in  the  world. 

"In  Illinois  alone,  with  less  population,  we  had  20,000  more 
tenent  farmers  than  Scotland.  * 

* '  In  New  York  City  alone  in  1887  there  were  ten  times  more 
persons  evicted  for  the  non-payment  of  rent  than  there  were  in 
all  Ireland.  The  figures  are,  in  New  York  22,804;  in  Ireland 
2,088."  (Integral  Co-operation  at  Work,  (No.  1)  p.  91.) 

But  a  large  volume  could  be  filled  with  such  details  of  the 
injustice  the  disorder  and  suffering  that  are  the  unavoidable 
consequences  of  this  unnatural  and  irrational  competitive  indi- 
vidualism, (  See  the  various  works  on  the  sufferings  of  the  labor- 
ing classes,  such  as  Helen  Campbell's  "Prisoners  of  Poverty," 
"The  White  Slave  Girls,  of  Chicago;"  "The  Tramp's  Trip" 
and  "The  Tramp  at  Home,"  by  Government  Agent,  Mr.  Lee 
Meriweather,  also  Mr.  Shearman's  articles  in  the^Vwmfor  Sep- 
tember and  November  "  Who  Owns  the  United  States  ?  ")  Mr. 
Shearman  concludes  that  under  present  conditions,  50,000  per- 
sons will  practically  own  all  the  wealth  of  the  country  in  thirty  years. 

Yes,  as  said  above,  this  absorption  of  the  nation's  wealth 
by  those  who  have  the  favoring  chances,  and  the  ability  and 
the  shrewdness  needed  for  this  sponging  process,  is  going  on 
all  the  time,  and  the  money  power  only  laughs  at  any  danger 
to  itself  lying  among  the  20,000  laws  passed  each  year  by  Con- 
gress and  our  f ourty  states  and  territories. 

Political  action,  change  of  parties  and  presidents  and  the 
like,  is  utterly  powerless  to  change  matters  for  the  better  so 
long  as  competition  in  industry  sits  throned  as  king.  The 
certain  and  the  only  remedy  for  these  enormous  evils,  flowing 
from  a  perverted  individualism,  lies  in  integral  or  complete  in- 
dustrial co-operation — in  the  farm  and  factory  co-operative 
city,  forming  by  its  numbers  the  co-operative  state,  forming 
the  industrial  co-operative  nation — in  short,  the  nationalization 
of  all  industries,  beginning  with  the  co-operative  unit,  viz : 
the  co-operative  town  or  city,  and  so  building  up  the  whole 
new  industrial  and  social  structure.  There  is  no  more  doubt 
that  this  is  in  the  near  future,  as  the  inevitable  and  most 
cheering  outcome  of  present  troubles,  than  there  is  doubt  of  to- 


59 

morrow's  sunrise  after  the  darkness  of  to-night ;  and  the  swar- 
ming trusts  and  syndicates  of  to-day  trying  to  monopolize  all 
industries  and  necessaries  of  life,  and  bringing  these  under  a 
single  control  and  management,  with  vast  economies  both  in 
production  and  distribution,  as  contrasted  with  the  waste  of 
time  and  labor  unavoidable  when  such  business  is  scattered 
among  thousands  of  small  and  ever  competing  and  quarrelling 
small  partnerships— all  this  we  say  is  only  showing  the  public 
how  it,  the  people  of  the  nation,  may  do  all  such  things  l)y 
themselves  and  Jor  themselves,  and  so,  no  longer,  like  sheep  at 
the  shearing  time,  be  at  the  mercy  of  these  trusts,  to  fleece 
them  of  their  wealth  to  enrich  themselves — but  keep  it  for  their 
own  (the  people's)  use,  and  increase  it  by  the  great  economies 
and  saving  of  waste  in  all  directions — a  saving  which  is  possi- 
ble only  by  such  municipal,  state  and  national  control  and 
management. 

But  this  nationalization  of  industry  will  be  found  to  be  im- 
possible except  by  the  people  first  uniting  in  these  small  co- 
operative bodies,  the  towns  and  cities,  and  filling  each  state 
with  them — each  owning  its  own  surrounding  farm  lands 
or  renting  them  from  the  state  or  the  national  government,  and 
prosecuting  all  the  industries  needed  to  supply  its  own  citizens 
first  and  foremost  with  all  they  need  for  a  proper  human  life. 

The  law  of  co-operation  being  the  law  of  order  in  the  uni- 
verse, and  the  source  of  all  its  harmonies,  then  it  follows  that 
all  the  systems  of  political  economy  that  are  based  on  the  idea 
that  individualism  and  laissez  fair  (every  one  to  go  his  own 
way  as  he  sees  best)  is  the  right  and  the  only  possible  way  for 
men  to  acquire  the  means  of  life — that  all  such  systems  are 
based  on  sand — on  a  false  foundation  and  will  come  to  naught. 
Were  these  systems  true  would  it  have  been  at  all  possible  for 
the  brightest  minds  in  both  hemispheres  to  take,  for  more  than 
a  century  of  discussion,  opposite  sides  on  economic  questions, 
such,  for  instance,  as  that  involving  protection  and  free  trade? 
Truth  is  in  most  cases,  simple  and  comprehensive,  and  often 
commands  assent  by  its  own  intrinsic  evidence  or  the  light 
which  beams  from  itself.  Therefore  in  the  light  of  this  great 
universal  law  of  co-operation,  we  think  it  may  be  at  once  seen 
that  when  the  small  component  parts  of  the  nation,  or  the 
towns  and  cities  become  integrally  co-operative — that  is,  when 
their  citizens  unite  themselves  in  each  as  a  joint  stock  corpor- 
ation, "pooling''  all  their  interests  to  carry  on  together  the 
whole  round  of  human  industries,  farming,  manufacturing,  ex- 
change, education,  study  of  art  and  science,  etc.,  every  thing 
required  to  supply  themselves — all  the  people  of  each  city,  first 
of  all,  abundantly  with  at  least  the  essentials  of  a  proper  life — 
that  then,  each  co-operative  community  or  city  will  be  most 
thoroughly  and  perfectly  protected — seZ/-protected  in  its  in- 
dustries, and  will  want  only  the  freest  exchange  of  its  surplus 


60 

products  for  a  different  surplus  of  its  neighbors.  Hence,  that 
when  every  city  in  the  nation  is  integrally  co-operative  and 
thus  self- protected  from  idleness  and  want,  that  the  entire  na- 
tion, composed  of  these  self-protected  parts,  must  be  also  self- 
protected,  and  needs  no  longer  any  tariff,  but  only  the  freest 
exchange  of  its  own  surplus  products  for  those  of  other  nations. 

Here,  some  of  the  views  of  Mr.  Henry  George  on  co- 
operation cannot  fail  to  add  great  weight  to  the  preceding 
remarks. 

As  showing  with  the  clearness  of  noon-day  sunlight,  the 
absolute  necessity  of  industrial  co-operation  for  human 
progress  and  welfare,  nothing  can  exceed  in  strength  the 
impregnable  position  taken  by  Mr.  Greorge  in  Chapter  hi 
of  Book  X.  of  his  work,  "  Progress  and  Poverty,"  entitled 
"The  Law  of  Human  Progress." 

After  a  few  preliminary  remarks  he  says  :  "  Mind  is  the 
instrument  by  which  men  advance  and  by  which  each 
advance  is  secured  and  made  the  vantage  ground  of  new 
advances."  *  *  *  "  Mental  power  is  therefore  the  motor 
of  progress,  and  men  tend  to  advance  in  proportion  to  the 
mental  power  expended  in  progression — the  mental  power 
which  is  devoted  to  the  extension  of  knowledge,  the  im- 
provement of  methods  and  the  betterment  of  social  con- 
ditions." 

Then  he  shows  that  "mental  power  is  a  fixed  quantity — 
that  is  to  say,  there  is  a  limit  to  the  work  a  man  can  do 
with  his  mind  as  there  is  to  the  work  he  can  do  with  his 
body.  Therefore  the  mental  power,  which  is  devoted  to 
progress,  is  only  what  is  left  after  what  is  required  for  noii- 
progressive  purposes." 

Then,  he  urges,  that  if  a  man's  mental  power  is  occupied 
mainly  with  getting  the  means  of  subsistence,  on  one 
hand,  and  in  conflict,  on  the  other,  progress  is  retarded. 
"By  conflict,  I  mean  not  only  warfare,  and  preparation 
for  warfare,  but  all  expenditure  of  mental  power  in  seek- 
ing the  gratification  of  desire  at  the  expense  of  others,  and 
in  resistance  to  such  aggression." 

How  perfectly  this  applies  to  our  competitive  warfare, 
which  is  one  long-drawn  "resistance  to  aggression  " — men 
wasting  their  mental  power,  the  "motor  of  progress,"  in 
contending  with  numberless  rivals  for  the  means  of  life, 
and  therefore  retarding  social  progress. 

He  continues  :  "  To  compare  society  to  a  boat — her  pro- 
gress through  the  water  will  not  depend  upon  the  exertion 
of  her  crew,  but  upon  the  exertion  devoted  to  propelling 
her.  This  will  be  lessened  by  any  force  required  for 
bailing  or  any  expenditure  of  force  in  fighting  among 
"themselves,  or  in  pulling  in  different  directions." 


01 

How  true,  again,  is  this,  of  competition — "  fighting 
among  themselves"  and  "  pulling  in  opposite  directions" — 
thus  leaving  but  little  "mental  power"  to  elevate  and  im- 
prove social  conditions,  and  threatening  to  carry  us  back- 
ward and  downward,  instead  of  forward  and  upward. 

He  then  shows  the  need  of  peaceful,  orderly  and  free 
association  for  this  purpose — social  progress.  The  law  of 
progress  is.  he  says,  ' '  association  in  equality — that  is,  the 
equality  of  opportunity  or  justice."  We  quote  a  sentence 
here  and  there. 

* '  Now,  as  in  a  separated  state  (he  means  no  doubt,  isola- 
tion, individualism)  the  whole  powers  of  man  are  required 
to  maintain  existence,  and  mental  power  is  only  set  free  for 
higher  uses  by  association  of  men  in  communities,  which 
permits  the  division  of  labor  and  all  the  economies  which 
come  with  the  co-operation  of  increased  numbers — associa- 
tion is  the  first  essential  to  progress.  Improvement  be- 
comes possible  as  men  come  together  in  peaceful  associa- 
tion ;  and  the  wider  and  closer  the  association,  the  greater 
the  possibilities  of  improvement.  And  as  the  wasteful  ex- 
penditure of  mental  power  in  conflict  becomes  greater  or 
less,  as  the  moral  law  which  accords  to  each,  an  equality 
of  rights,  is  ignored  or  recognized,  equality  (or  justice)  is 
the  second  essential  of  progress." 

4 '  Thus  association  in  equality  is  the  law  of  progress.  As- 
sociation frees  mental  power  for  expenditure  in  improve- 
ment ;  and  equality  (or  justice,  or  freedom — for  the  terms 
here  signify  the  same  thing,  viz.,  the  recognition  of  the 
moral  law)  prevents  the  dissipation  of  this  power  in  fruit- 
less struggles." 

"Here  is  the  law  of  progress,  which  will  explain  all 
diversities,  all  advances,  all  haTts  and  retrogressions  (in  the 
history  of  nations — his  topic  in  previous  pages.)  "Men 
"  tend  to  progress,  just  as  they  come  closer  together,  and 
' '  by  co-operation  with  each  other,  increase  the  mental 
"  power  that  may  be  devoted  to  improvement ;  Imtjust  as 
'  *  conflict  is  provoked,  or  association  develops  inequality 
"  of  condition  and  power,  this  tendency  to  progression  is 
"  lessened,  checked  and  finally  reversed." 

(The  italics  in  these  quotations  are  ours.) 

It  is  hardly  possible  to  give  a  better  picture  of  the  condi- 
tions for  human  welfare,  progress  and  social  stability, 
which  will  be  the  great  features  of  the  Integral  Co-opera- 
tive City,  or,  on  the  other  hand,  of  the  very  opposite  and 
ruinous  conditions  involved  in  our  competitive  civilization, 
than  that  here  given  by  Mr.  George.  His  statements  can- 
not be  controverted  ;  they  are  next  to  self-evident,  or  en- 
tirely so.  And  what  momentous  consequences  hang  upon 
their  truth  !  Social  progress,  improvement  and  increasing 


62 

elevation  of  human  character  and  intelligence,  under  the 
reign  of  order  (true,  not  forced  order)  and  liberty,  in  pro- 
portion as  one  set  of  CONDITIONS  or  methods  of  collective 
action  are  entered  upon — or 

Social  degeneracy,  and  a  repetition  of  the  old,  old  story 
of  national  corruption  and  decay — as  the  other  set  of  false 
conditions  in  which  we  are  now  floundering,  are  continued. 

For  let  us  contrast  these  respective  conditions — those  of 
industrial,  integral  co-operation — and  those  of  competition. 

In  industrial,  integral  (complete)  co-operation  we  have 
the  "  association  of  men"  in  as  close  a  mode  as  is  possible. 
It  is  the  limit  of  closeness  ;  and  thus  is  one  of,  and  as  Mr. 
George  says,  the  first  essential  of  progress.  * '  The  wider 
and  closer  the  association,  the  greater  (are)  the  possibilities 
of  improvement" — are  his  words. 

Next.  It  is  "association  in  eqality,"  which,  being  the 
same  he  says,  as  justice  or  freedom — is  the  second  essential 
condition  for  social  progress.  It  is  an  equality  of  oppor- 
tunity, for  every  one  to  enjoy  all  the  means  and  facilities 
for  the  culture  and  training  of  mental  and  bodily  powers, 
which  every  one  else  has,  and  which  the  co-operatively 
organized  city  will  provide  and  guarantee.  It  is  also  an 
equality  of  social  standing  ;  every  one  is  the  social  equal  of 
all,  and  differences  in  character,  aptitudes  and  capacity, 
which  are  of  endless  variety,  and  necessary  in  a  co-opera- 
tive organism,  are  the  only  ones  recognized.  Universal 
education  and  refinement  will  wipe  out  all  artificial  dis- 
tinctions. Every  one  will  gravitate  to  his  or  her  own  level, 
and  will  be  judged  according  to  his  real  worth,  which  may 
be  known  to  all. 

Next.  It  is  association  in  peaceful  co  operation.  "  Im- 
4 '  provement  becomes  possible  as  men  come  together  in 
"  peaceful  co-operation" — to  quote  Mr.  George  again.  As 
the  interests  and  thedndustries  of  the  citizens  are  all  inter- 
locked and  mutually  interdependent  and  harmonized,  it 
can  be  no  other  than  peaceful ;  and  hence  there  is  no 
"  conflict"  causing  "waste  of  mental  power  for  improve- 
"ment." 

Next.  It  is  association  in  co-operation  only  which  can 
and  does  "recognize  the  moral  law"  in  all  respects,  and 
under  every  circumstance,  in  so  ordering  and  arranging 
its  collective  activities  as  to  give  to  every  one  his  or  her 
own  rights — give  to  every  one  equal  opportunity  to  enjoy  all 
that  the  city  has  to  offer,  as  well  as  constant  employment 
at  freely  chosen  pursuits,  and  equal  and  certain  and  equit- 
able compensation  for  equal  work,  whether  the  worker  be 
man  or  woman.  In  addition,  each  person  according  to 
service  rendered,  will  have  an  equitable  share  of  the^pro- 


63 

ceeds  of  the  united  industries  of  the  citizens  when  dividends 
are  declared. 

Then,  as  to  the  capacity  to  work  and  to  earn  its  rewards, 
it  may  be  observed  that  as  among  any  given  number  of 
men  or  women,  neither  the  bodily  stature  nor  the  bodily 
strength  varies  much  above  or  much  below  a  general  aver- 
age of  bright  or  strength,  so  the  same  may  be  said  as  to 
mental  power  in  a  community.  Therefore,  with  equal 
education  and  equal  opportunities  to  use  the  educated  pow- 
ers in  united  industries,  and  equitable  compensation  for 
work  done  or  service  rendered — the  personal  wealth  of 
the  citizens  will  not  vary  much,  either  above  or  below  a 
general  average  ;  and,  owing  to  the  equitable  arrangements 
in  co  operative  life,  such  wealth  cannot  possibly  accumu- 
late in  the  hands  of  a  few,  leaving  thousands  in  want,  as  is 
the  case  in  our  competitive  industry. 

But  011  the  other  hand,  although  personal  wealth  may  be 
moderate,  but  yet  always  sufficient  for  the  utmost  comfort, 
United  Labor,  by  its  great  economies  in  one  direction,  and 
its  equally  great  productiveness  in  others  will  create  great 
public  wealth — wealth  of  the  city  ;  and  this  it  will  spend 
in  lavishly  supplying  the  citizens  with  every  facility  for 
culture  and  amusement  at  a  trifling  cost  to  each. 

Such  facilities  are  wide  tree  and  flower-planted  streets  ; 
parks,  gardens,  water  ways,  theatres,  libraries,  museums, 
art  galleries,  concerts,  lectures  ;  besides  schools,  colleges, 
gymnasiums,  baths,  etc.,  and  such  other  public  utilities  as 
gas  and  water  works,  electric  light,  heat  and  power  plants  ; 
street  cars,  water  craft,  telegraph  and  telephone  service, 
etc.  All  persons  having  the  use  of  all  these  conveniences 
at  a  small  charge— because  the  citizens  supply  them  to 
themselves  by  their  united  labors,  allowing  no  private  par- 
ties or  companies  (nor  will  any  such  exist  in  the  city)  to  do 
so  at  fancy  prices  (gas  in  Chicago  costs  the  company  only 
45  cents  per  1,000  feet ;  they  sell  it  to  the  public  at  $1.25, 
as  confided  to  a  friend  of  his  by  one  of  the  directors).  Such 
being  the  small  cost  of  these  public  conveniences,  no  one 
will  want  to  pile  up  wealth  for  himself,  even  if  that  were 
possible  ;  for  he  could  make  no  use  of  it,  except  to  increase 
the  attractions  of  the  city,  finding  himself  surrounded  with 
every  necessary  and  luxury  of  life  at  the  lowest  cost ;  and 
even  then  this  conies  back  to  him  in  dividends  011  the  city's 
income  derived  from  all  these  sources— these  public  utili- 
ties. 

As  the  citizens  are  their  own  capitalists,  employ  ing  their 
united  wealth  to  carry  on  their  united  labors,  and  thus  are 
the  employers  of  themselves — there  are  no  longer  the  two 
classes  of  employers  and  employed,  each  in  the  constant 
effort  to  get  all  it  can  from  the  other,  and  to  give  as  little 


62 

elevation  of  human  character  arid  intelligence,  under  the 
reign  of  order  (true,  not  forced  order)  and  liberty,  in  pro- 
portion as  one  set  of  CONDITIONS  or  methods  of  collective 
action  are  entered  upon — or 

Social  degeneracy,  and  a  repetition  of  the  old,  old  story 
of  national  corruption  and  decay — as  the  other  set  of  false 
conditions  in  which  we  are  now  floundering,  are  continued. 

For  let  us  contrast  these  respective  conditions — those  of 
industrial,  integral  co-operation — and  those  of  competition. 

In  industrial,  integral  (complete)  co-operation  we  have 
the  "  association  of  men"  in  as  close  a  mode  as  is  possible. 
It  is  the  limit  of  closeness  ;  and  thus  is  one  of,  and  as  Mr. 
George  says,  the  first  essential  of  progress.  "  The  wider 
and  closer  the  association,  the  greater  (are)  the  possibilities 
of  improvement" — are  his  words. 

Next.  It  is  "association  in  eqality,"  which,  being  the 
same  he  says,  as  justice  or  freedom — is  the  second  essential 
condition  for  social  progress.  It  is  an  equality  of  oppor- 
tunity, for  every  one  to  enjoy  all  the  means  and  facilities 
for  the  culture  and  training  of  mental  and  bodily  powers, 
which  every  one  else  has,  and  which  the  co-operatively 
organized  city  will  provide  and  guarantee.  It  is  also  an 
equality  of  social  standing  ;  every  one  is  the  social  equal  of 
all,  and  differences  in  character,  aptitudes  and  capacity, 
which  are  of  endless  variety,  and  necessary  in  a  co-opera- 
tive organism,  are  the  only  ones  recognized.  Universal 
education  and  refinement  will  wipe  out  all  artificial  dis- 
tinctions. Every  one  will  gravitate  to  his  or  her  own  level, 
and  will  be  judged  according  to  his  real  worth,  which  may 
be  known  to  all. 

Next.  It  is  association  in  peaceful  co  operation.  "  Im- 
*  *  provement  becomes  possible  as  men  come  together  in 
"  peaceful  co-operation" — to  quote  Mr.  George  again.  As 
the  interests  and  the* industries  of  the  citizens  are  all  inter- 
locked and  mutually  interdependent  and  harmonized,  it 
can  be  no  other  than  peaceful ;  and  hence  there  is  no 
"  conflict"  causing  "waste  of  mental  power  for  improve- 
"ment." 

Next.  It  is  association  in  co-operation  only  which  can 
and  does  "recognize  the  moral  law"  in  all  respects,  and 
under  every  circumstance,  in  so  ordering  and  arranging 
its  collective  activities  as  to  give  to  every  one  his  or  her 
own  rights — give  to  every  one  equal  opportunity  to  enjoy  all 
that  the  city  has  to  offer,  as  well  as  constant  employment 
at  freely  chosen  pursuits,  and  equal  and  certain  and  equit- 
able compensation  for  equal  work,  whether  the  worker  be 
man  or  woman.  In  addition,  each  person  according  to 
service  rendered,  will  have  an  equitable  share  of  the^pro- 


\ 


63 

ceeds  of  the  united  industries  of  the  citizens  when  dividends 
are  declared. 

Then,  as  to  the  capacity  to  work  and  to  earn  ils  rewards, 
it  may  be  observed  that  as  among-  any  given  number  of 
men  or  women,  neither  the  bodily  stature  nor  the  bodily 
strength  varies  much  above  or  much  below  a  general  aver- 
age of  height  or  strength,  so  the  same  may  be  said  as  to 
mental  power  in  a  community.  Therefore,  with  equal 
education  and  equal  opportunities  to  use  the  educated  pow- 
ers in  united  industries,  and  equitable  compensation  for 
work  done  or  service  rendered — the  personal  wealth  of 
the  citizens  will  not  vary  much,  either  above  or  below  a 
general  average  ;  and,  owing  to  the  equitable  arrangements 
in  co  operative  life,  such  wealth  cannot  possibly  accumu- 
late in  the  hands  of  a  few,  leaving  thousands  in  want,  . 
the  case  in  our  competitive  industry. 

But  on  the  other  hand,  although  personal  wealth  may  be 
moderate,  but  yet  always  sufficient  for  the  utmost  comfort, 
United  Labor,  by  its  great  economies  in  one  direction,  and 
its  equally  great  productiveness  in  others  will  create  great 
public  wealth — wealth  of  the  city;  and  this  it  will  spend 
in  lavishly  supplying-  the  citizens  with  every  facility  for 
culture  and  amusement  at  a  trifling  cost  to  each. 

Such  facilities  are  wide  tree  and  flower-planted  streets  ; 
parks,  gardens,  water  ways,  theatres,  libraries,  museums, 
art  galleries,  concerts,  lectures  ;  besides  schools,  colleges, 
gymnasiums,  baths,  etc.,  and  such  other  public  utilities  as 
gas  and  water  works,  electric  light,  heat  and  power  plants  ; 
street  cars,  water  craft,  telegraph  and  telephone  service, 
etc.  All  persons  having  the  use  of  all  these  conveniences 
at  a  small  charge-- because  the  citizens  supply  them  to 
themselves  by  their  united  labors,  allowing  no  private  par- 
ties or  companies  (nor  will  any  such  exist  in  the  city)  to  do 
so  at  fancy  prices  (gas  in  Chicago  costs  the  company  only 
45  cents  per  1,000  feet ;  they  sell  it  to  the  public  at  $1.25, 
as  confided  to  a  friend  of  his  by  one  of  the  directors).  Such 
being  the  small  cost  of  these  public  conveniences,  no  one 
•\vill  want  to  pile  up  wealth  for  himself,  even  if  that  were 
possible  ;  for  he  could  make  no  use  of  it,  except  to  increase 
the  attractions  of  the  city,  finding  himself  surrounded  with 
every  necessary  and  luxury  of  life  at  the  lowest  cost ;  and 
even  then  this  comes  back  to  him  in  dividends  on  the  city's 
income  derived  from  all  these  sources— these  public  utili- 
ties. 

As  the  citizens  are  their  own  capitalists,  employing  their 
united  wealth  to  carry  on  their  united  labors,  and  thus  are 
the  employers  of  themselves— there  are  no  longer  the  two 
classes  of  employers  and  employed,  each  in  the  constant. 
effort  to  get  all  it  can  from  the  other,  and  to  give  as  litile 


66 

32  Nassau  street.  Its  projector  and  leader  is  Mr.  Albert  Kini- 
sey  Owen,  of  Chester,  Pennsylvania,  civil  engineer,  long  con- 
nected with  railroad  matters  both  in  this  country  and  Mexico, 
and  well  known  in  the  capitals  of  both.  This  company  has 
now  on  its  books  the  names  of  over  five  thousand  stockholders 
who  are  awaiting  the  work  of  some  two  hundred  pioneers, 
now  at  the  colony  site  to  prepare  matters  there  for  the  grad- 
ual reception  of  these  intending  colonists.  The  following  are 
some  of  the  advantages  presented  by  a  late  writer: 

1.  It  has  one  of  the  finest  harbors  in  the  world. 

2.  Millions  of  acres  of  excellent  land  to  be  had  at  a  moder-- 
ate  price. 

3.  A  most  desirable  site  for  a  large  city,  fronting  the  bay. 

4.  The  certainty  that  a  city   built  upon  that  harbor  would 
inevitably  become  a  leading  manufacturing   and  commercial 
emporium. 

5.  The  climate  is  unsurpassed   on   the  Pacific  coast  or  else 
where,  and  with  irrigation   easily  and   cheaply  attainable,  the 
most  abundant  crops  of  nearly  every  kind  can  be  raised  with 
comparatively  little  labor. 

6.  The  company  has  a  railway  concession   covering  vast 
bodies  of  timber,  mining  and  cultivable  land,  with  certain  and 
liberal  money  payments  for  a  railway  to  connect  the  city  and 
port  with  the  United  States. 

These  with  still  other  advantages  were  deemed  of  the 
utmost  moment,  as  well  as  an  all-sufficient  basis  upon  which  to 
establish  a  co-operative  settlement,  fully  capable,  by  intelli- 
gent and  honest  aim,  to  work  out  practically,  the  industrial 
problem,  now  so  vexing  the  modern  world. 

The  Credit-Foncier  Company  controls  many  thousand  acres 
of  land.  The  area  of  the  city  site  embraces  29  square  miles. 
The  harbor,  of  an  area  of  54  square  miles,  is  as  large  and  fine 
as  that  of  New  York,  and  the  only  safe  and  accessible  one  of 
adequate  size  on  the  whole  Pacific  coast  from  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama  to  San  Francisco.  The  colony  lands  to  the  north 
of  the  harbor,  called  the  "Mochis,"  are  70,000  acres  in  extent, 
the  river  Fuerte  is  but  35  miles  from  the  harbor,  and  around 
the  harbor  the  colony  will  control  31  miles  square  of  land  and 
water.  The  delightful  climate  is  semi-tropical ;  the  tempera- 
ture very  equable,  varying  only  from  50  degrees  F.  in  winter 
to  86  in  summer. 

"There  being  no  frost,  growth  is  continuous,  and  two  or 
more  crops  can  be  secured  yearly."  Among  the  productions 
are  the  cereals,  oranges,  lemons,  bananas,  figs,  grapes  and 
other  fruits,  vegetables,  cotton,  sugar,  hemp,  indigo,  coffee, 
mustard,  rice,  hay,  clover,  etc.,  can  be  advantageously  culti- 
vated. Not  only  can  the  home  market  be  kept  fully  supplied, 
but  large  exports  be  made  from  the  products  of  the  farm 
land§.  Fish,  turtle  and  oysters  can  also  be  obtained  in  innu- 


r>7 

mcrahle  quantities  from  the  waters  of  the  bay,  and  constitute 
very  profitable  articles  of  commerce. 

The  colony  site  ("Pacific  City,")  is 800 miles  nearer  to  New 
York  than  San  Francisco,  and  "  promises  to  be  the  great 
tre  through  which  the  commerce  of  Asia,  Australia  and  the 
Pacific  islands  with  Europe  will  pass.  Two  hundred  miles 
north  are  the  great  anthracite  coal  fields  of  Sonora,  and  150 
miles  to  the  eastward  is  the  great  timber  tract  of  Mexico,  which 
for  the  first  time  will  be  opened  by  the  great  railway  passing 
through  it.  Adjacent  to  this  are  lands  noted  as  possessing 
greater  mineral  wealth  than  any  other  area  of  equal  extent,  not 
excepting  California.  For  these  reasons  the  land  adjacent  to 
the  bay  and  harbor  of  Topolobampo,  State  of  Sinaloa,  Mexico, 
have  been  chosen  as  the  site  on  which  to  inaugurate  this  new 
movement."  (Extract  from  a  lecture  by  Mr.  John  W.  Lovell, 
the  publisher,  before  the  Manhattan  Liberal  Club,  of  New 
York,  in  November,  1886.) 

A  paper,  The  Or  edit- Fancier  of  Sinaloa,  is  issued  twice 
a  month  at  the  colony,  edited  by  Mrs,  Marie  Rowland  and  Mr. 
Edward  Rowland,  and  is  now  in  its  fourth  volume.  It  keeps 
the  many  stockholders,  scattered  over  the  United  States  and 
other  countries,  well  posted  as  to  colony  matters,  and  what  is 
done  by  the  pioneers. 

All  wished  for  information  regarding  this  integral  co-oper- 
ative movement  may  be  obtained  on  application  to  the  office 
of  The  Credit-Foncier  Company,  32  Nassau  street.  New 
York.  It  keeps  on  hand  a  number  of  publications,  including 
"Integral  Co-operation."  "Integral  Co-operation  nt 
Work,  (No.  1)"  "Extracts  Prom  Neivspapers  Explan- 
atory of  T/'te  Credit-Foncier  Company,"  all  by  Mr.  A.  K. 
Owen,  and  others  by  various  writers. 

Sewnkley,  Alleghany  County,  Pa., 
June  1890. 


i 


(I 


I  he  Credit  Fonder  Serio3  of  Publieatmo. 


To  be  had  from  M.  &  E.  Ilowlaorl,  Hammonton,  Atlantic 
County,  New  Jersey,  and  from  The  Credit  Foncicr  Company, 
Room,  708:  32  Nassau  Street,  New  York  City. 

PRICES  INCLUDE    POSTAGE. 

Integra!  Co-operation.    By  A  K.Owen $0.3O 

The  New  Departure.    By  Wm.  H.  Mailer 1O 

A   Co-operative   City   and    The    Credit    Fonder    of 

Sinaloa     By  John  W.  Lovell., 10 

"The  Credit  Foncier  of  Siiialoa."    A  Weekly  Paper  (8 
page  octavo).  By  Marie  and  Edward  Howland.    3  months,  25c., 

6  months,  50c.,  12  months... l.OO 

Extracts    from    Newspapers,  explanatory    or    the 

Credit  Foneier  Company.    Compiled  by  A.  K.  Owen 10 

The  North  American  Phalanx.    By  Charles  Sears .10 

The  Military,  Postal   and  Commercial  Highway*. 

By  A.  K.Owen 25 

The  Texcoco-Huelmetoca  Canal.    By  A.  K.  Owen 25 

Social  Solution*.    Edited  by  Edward  Howland.    12  parts,  each 

lOc.,  or  the  12  for l.OO 

Social  Solution*.    By  M.  -Godin.    Translated  by  Marie  How- 
laud.    Cloth,  Gilt  1.5<> 

Papa's  Own  Girl.    By  Marie  Howland 3O 

The  American  and   Mexican    Pacific    Hallway.    By 

Alexander  D.  Anderson  . .  .2  5 


The  first  five   publications  are   devoted  exclusively   to 
nations  of  The  Credit  Foncier  Company. 


ex  pi  i- 


